Santner made the difference, says Taylor

Both New Zealand and England came into the five-match one-day international series in excellent 50-overs form. While England had beaten Australia 4-1, New Zealand were enjoying an eight-match winning run in the format. Therefore, it was no surprise that the two teams dished up a pulsating game at Seddon Park in Hamilton in the first ODI.

Put in to bat, England got to 284/8 following half-centuries from Joe Root (71) and Jos Buttler (79). Chris Woakes and David Willey then reduced the hosts to 27/3, but Ross Taylor (113) and Tom Latham (79) forged a 178-run partnership for the fourth wicket, and Mitchell Santner sealed the deal for New Zealand with a late flourish.

Requiring 34 runs in 18 balls, and later nine off the last over, Santner produced a spell-binding 27-ball 45 not out to help New Zealand get over the line by three wickets with four balls in hand.

Taylor, who was adjudged Player of the Match for his 18th ODI century, was effusive in his praise of Santner. “One hell of a game today! England came out and posted a tough total, but I think the partnership (with Latham) was outstanding, and Santner, the way he finished it off at the end was the difference.

“I think Tom came out and manipulated the ball very well. We just needed to take it deep and give ourselves a chance. It is easier to bat with Tom and it was good that we took it deep. There are obviously very small boundaries here. We backed ourselves to probably get 50 off five overs. Ten an over we gave ourselves a chance. As it worked out, Santner batted very well and we crossed the line.”

Earlier in the day, Root and Jason Roy provided England a steady platform after losing Alex Hales early. Even as England lost wickets at regular intervals thereafter, they were well placed for quick runs later on with Buttler at the crease. However, fine bowling in the death overs by New Zealand restricted the visitors to an under-par total.

Complimenting the effort put in by his bowlers, Kane Williamson said: “I think the bowlers did pretty well. A lot of credit to the death bowling for keeping them to 70 in the last 10 overs, especially with the likes of Jos Buttler, who can hit it to all parts.

“Guys have their roles and it is fantastic to see the guys perform them. It was a brilliant partnership (Taylor and Latham), but also from Mitch Santner at the end to bring us home, which is a fantastic effort. Ross has been batting well through the season, Tom did it too and we did really well. Credit to England, they too did well. It's a different format, there's more time. We know that England play their cricket very positively with the bat, but we needed to assess and realise that it wasn't easy to score for the new guys coming in.”

Eoin Morgan, the England captain, felt the dew which came down in the second half hindered his bowlers. “Wasn't much between the sides today,” he said. “I think that was reflected in the result. They fought back really well. Ross played a very good knock and showed what he's capable of and Latham was superb as well. It ebbed and flowed for quite a while and when we broke the partnership we knew we were in the game.

“In the end, we just didn't have enough runs in the tank. Dew definitely had a big role to play. We would have also opted to bat first. Our bowlers did a really good job, but New Zealand were the better side today.”

The second ODI will be staged at Bay Oval in Mount Maunganui on 28 February.