Cricket: Bates wants more from her batters after loss

White Ferns captain Suzie Bates says her batsman need to step it up during the next four Twenty20 games against England.

The Kiwis were soundly beaten by England in the tour opener by six wickets in Wellington today and their dismal batting effort was squarely to blame.

New Zealand - who were admittedly put in to bat on a slow wicket - stumbled along to 80-9 from their 20 overs, which was only made possible through the good work of Kate Broadmore who clipped an unbeaten 27 from No 8.

Only two other players - Bates and Katey Martin - made double figures, before England breezed home in the 18th over.

"I think our batting just needs to find a way to score runs and like I think at the end of the day if our top six is scoring runs the game's going to be a lot closer,'' Bates said.

"But we haven't been able to hit our straps and no one's really performed that well. So I think as soon as that happens, the score line's going to be a lot closer. We just need to find a way to do that - and fast.''

The teams meet again in Hamilton on Sunday and the White Ferns needs to make vast improvements in a short space of time, with the third game in the series coming three days later in Auckland.

Of the nine New Zealand wickets to fall in Wellington today, eight of them were bowled or leg before and despite the pitch being slightly slow, Bates didn't blame the deck.

"I think that comes down to our lack of intent and just being really tentative and we sort of waited for the ball to come rather than being really confident and getting on the front foot. We've talked a lot about our batting and I think it's a bit of a mental thing at the moment, just with the lack of winning games and finding that confidence to go out there and just play naturally.''

Anya Shrubsole was the chief destroyer for England as she claimed 5-11 from four overs and didn't appear to weave any magic with her medium pacers, but she was nearly unplayable.

England's Sarah Taylor top-scored with an unbeaten 31 to guide her side home, while Broadmore also impressed with the ball as she bowled two maidens as she picked up 1-11 from four overs.