England v New Zealand: Guptill century gives tourists ODI victory

Martin Guptill

Martin Guptill's unbeaten century led New Zealand to a five-wicket win over England in the first match of the one-day series at Lord's.

He made 103 not out off 123 balls as the tourists recovered from losing two wickets in the first over to overhaul a target of 228 with 19 balls to spare.

Ross Taylor weighed in with 54, while James Anderson took 3-31 for England.

Four England batsmen reached 30 but Jonathan Trott's 37 was the highest score in a modest total of 227-9.

Guptill's innings, which contained eight fours and four sixes, served to highlight the shortcomings of England's batsmen on a pitch which offered no more than occasional assistance to bowlers.

He overcame the loss of Luke Ronchi and Kane Williamson in the space of three Anderson balls to share a match-shaping third-wicket stand of 120 with Taylor, and later helped negate any New Zealand nerves during a minor wobble before bringing up his third ODI hundred with the winning runs.

The loss of those two early wickets aside, New Zealand were rarely inconvenienced during their chase, although England were hampered by the absence of Stuart Broad and Steven Finn, both of whom will also miss the second game of the three-match series at the Rose Bowl on Sunday.

It is with the bat, however, where England require most improvement, and their collapse from 117-2 on a blameless surface will give one-day coach Ashley Giles cause for concern with the Champions Trophy starting next week.

"I don't think it was a wake-up call," said captain Alastair Cook. "I just didn't think we got it right today. We have quality players but none of us got the runs. We kept losing wickets at the wrong time."

England were undermined by the loss of three wickets for nine runs, all of which owed more to poor shot selection than penetrative bowling.

Openers Ian Bell and Cook had fallen in more authentic fashion - caught behind on the drive in successive Tim Southee overs - before Joe Root and Trott repaired the damage by sharing a third-wicket stand of 67.

The sensible manner in which they batted contrasted sharply with their dismissals. Root was bowled by Nathan McCullum when going for an ambitious reverse-sweep while Trott swept to deep midwicket in the off-spinner's next over.

When Eoin Morgan, advancing down the track, failed to withdraw his bat fully from an aborted hook at Mitchell McClenaghan and looped a catch behind, England had slipped to 165-5 in the 30th over.

The dangerous Jos Buttler reverse-swept Williamson tamely to backward point just as he appeared to be mounting a counter-attack, which left England grateful for the useful - rather than hefty - contributions of Chris Woakes and Tim Bresnan.

Woakes had made 36 when, on the charge, he sliced Kyle Mills to deep extra-cover, Bresnan played on to a Southee slower ball, and Graeme Swann drove the final delivery of the innings to mid-off.

Anderson renewed England's hopes of defending a modest total when he accounted for Ronchi - making his debut for New Zealand after playing four ODIs for Australia - and Williamson courtesy of superb catches from Swann, at second slip, and wicketkeeper Buttler respectively.

But Taylor and Guptill counter-attacked to good effect. The latter, put down on 13 by Bresnan above his head at fine-leg, lifted Swann for a towering six over long-off shortly after reaching 50.

Dernbach was treated with similar disdain after Taylor was caught behind off an inside edge while aiming a flat-footed drive at Anderson, and even the departure of Grant Elliott and Brendon McCullum in quick succession failed to interrupt Guptill's progress.

McCullum said: "We gave ourselves every opportunity by the way we bowled and fielded, then Martin played a fantastic innings."

Match scorecard