Close New Zealand 244 for 8 (50 overs: McMillan 69, Fleming 40, Gough 3-47) beat England 89 all out (Astle 3-4, Adams 3-13) by 155 runs
scorecard

This was embarrassing. England have talked the talk all winter, and have even on occasions walked the walk, but today, confronted with green, green grass like home, they capitulated. Chasing an above-par total of 244 for victory, England slumped to 40 for 6 in the 19th over, and though they recovered somewhat to overhaul their lowest-ever one-day total (86 against Australia at Old Trafford in 2001), there was never any suspicion of a contest. The wheels didn't just come off – the whole chassis disintegrated in less than 40 overs.

England had their misfortunes. Marcus Trescothick should not have been given out in the second over, and Graham Thorpe and Craig White were extremely unfortunate to be given out lbw later on. But despite some poor umpiring England were still a clear second-best, and they contributed greatly to their own downfall. Nasser Hussain, Paul Collingwood and Nick Knight all succumbed to the type of frustration that only New Zealand's unique brand of medium-pacers can cause. Owais Shah, replacing James Foster for his first match since the Zimbabwe tour of October, looked good (as always) for his seven runs, but fell to the sucker punch as Chris Cairns offered him a fraction of width outside off stump.

Only Andrew Flintoff, whose strength made light of the slow pitch and outfield, looked at all settled, but even his innings of 26 came at the unfamiliar rate of three an over, and contained just one four and one mown six off Daniel Vettori. His dismissal, moments after Ashley Giles had holed out to midwicket for 12, was as brainless as any in the innings, and Nathan Astle wrapped up the match with two in two balls, pinging back Darren Gough's off stump for 0.

The pick of New Zealand's bowlers was Andre Adams, though England were so inept that Andre Agassi could probably have done an equally good job. Adams endured a tough baptism in the VB Series, but today he was right on the money, returning career-best figures of 3 for 13 with booming outswingers and nifty induckers, delivered at a pace that had all the England batsmen groping for the ball. He was ably supported by Daryl Tuffey, who tempted Hussain into the mishit of the match - a legside flick that lobbed off the leading edge to Stephen Fleming at gully (13 for 2) - and Chris Harris, in his 200th match was still as unhittably dobbly as ever.

But it had all started rather well for England. Hussain would not have been greatly relieved to have won the toss, but he elected to field first on a wicket that had been grown in a greenhouse, and an outfield that had, until last week, been a rugby pitch.

After a half-hour delay for rain, New Zealand - and Chris Nevin in particular - began at a canter, but the dismissal of Astle leg-before (25 for 1), the first dubious decision of the day, opened the door for Gough and Flintoff. At 52 for 3 in the 12th over England were in a strong position, but Fleming and Craig McMillan steadied the innings with a 58-run partnership for the fourth wicket. Fleming had made 40 when he flipped a leg-side half volley from Matthew Hoggard to midwicket where Shah took a blinder (110 for 4).

McMillan, whose 69 came off just 91 balls, and Lou Vincent (36) took up the attack with an 85-run stand, and Adams added some useful late runs as England were punished for some sloppiness in the field. Craig White, mixing seamers with offcutters had his figures dented by three big sixes, and Collingwood seemed out of his depth as the sixth bowler. None of them were aided by England's fielding, however, as three catches of varying difficulty went down.

On a track this slow, 200 might have been a difficult target to pursue. But 244 was always going to be out of England's reach, especially when the top four - the engine-room of the innings - were shot out for just 22 runs between them. England had made two changes - the out-of-sorts Caddick was dropped in favour of Hoggard, and Trescothick took over from Foster behind the stumps to allow Shah into the side. As it transpired for England, it was a match to miss.

New Zealand 1 Chris Nevin (wk), 2 Nathan Astle, 3 Brendon McCullum, 4 Stephen Fleming (capt), 5 Craig McMillan, 6 Lou Vincent, 7 Chris Cairns, 8 Chris Harris, 9 Andre Adams, 10 Daniel Vettori, 11 Daryl Tuffey.

England 1 Marcus Trescothick (wk), 2 Nick Knight, 3 Nasser Hussain (capt), 4 Graham Thorpe, 5 Owais Shah, 6 Paul Collingwood, 7 Andrew Flintoff, 8 Craig White, 9 Ashley Giles, 10 Darren Gough, 11 Matthew Hoggard.

Andrew Miller is on the staff of Wisden.com.

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