New Zealand's Mitchell Santner celebrates hitting a six to win the match. Photo / Photosport
New Zealand's Mitchell Santner celebrates hitting a six to win the match. Photo / Photosport
Ross Taylor's 18th one-day international century and a heroic Mitchell Santner cameo led New Zealand to a three-wicket victory – with four balls to spare - over England in their series opener at Hamilton.
An astrophysicist or psychologist would struggle to bring context to the number crunching and mental pressureboth faced when walking to the wicket.
Santner brought finality when he swung Chris Woakes for six over deep-mid-wicket to reach 45 not out from 27 balls with Tim Southee offering support. The challenge was steep upon arrival with 70 runs required off 49 balls.
"We knew we could chase 10-an-over, but it was hard to start, and you might take a few dot balls but catch up later."
New Zealand's Ross Taylor scores his 18th ODI hundred. Photosport
He entered at 27 for two in the ninth over with Kane Williamson traipsing past him. Within four dot balls Martin Guptill was off too, as England bowlers David Willey and Chris Woakes dominated the opening powerplay.
Taylor and Tom Latham (79 from 84 balls) were having none of it as they posted a 178-run partnership in 182 balls, a record for the fourth-wicket between both countries.
"The two fours from Tom [in the 11th over from Willey] gave us the momentum shift and we got the partnership going from there.
"I always enjoy batting with Tom. The right hand-left hand combination allows us to hit balls to both sides of the wicket and not let them settle."
England and New Zealand duelled in a manner suggesting their ODI rivalry picked up where it exited in 2015 after a five-match thriller.
England won 3-2 in a series that produced a then-world record 3151 runs. Little has changed in tempo, although England's 284 for eight was light by their standards. In 29 ODI innings batting first since the World Cup, they have passed 300 on 19 occasions.
New Zealand's Ross Taylor and Tom Latham put on 178 for the fourth wicket. Photosport
A score of 285 or more had only been chased down twice previously at Seddon Park. The first instance came in the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy of 2007 when they scored 350 for nine, the second was a haul of 290 for seven against Bangladesh at the World Cup.
Latham's effort was his highest score at home in 15 ODIs.
Taylor became the fastest New Zealand batsman to 7000 ODI runs, completing the feat in his 188th innings, faster than Stephen Fleming (237 innings) and Nathan Astle (212).
He became the seventh-equal quickest overall alongside Jacques Kallis, and one innings better than Sachin Tendulkar and Chris Gayle.
Taylor and Latham seized a keyhole of opportunity as the outfield dew took hold. They wore down an England attack in which spinners Adil Rashid and Moeen Ali struggled for control.
Momentum was divided more equally across the England innings.
New Zealand restricting the visitors to 34 for one in a nine-over opening partnership between Southee and Trent Boult.
Jason Roy (49 off 66 balls) and Joe Root (71 off 75) fought back with a second-wicket stand of 79 to take them to 89 in the 19th over.
No partnership was worth more than 42 after that, but England's batting depth paid dividends as they sustained and then accelerated the run rate. Buttler heaving Sodhi for three sixes in the 32nd over helped on his way to 79 off 65.
Santner, Sodhi and Boult took a brace of wickets each, but conceded 5.4, 6.3 and 6.4 runs per over respectively.
Boult copped a barrage in the death overs while Sodhi and Santner struggled to extract turn despite the wicket having been previously used. That imbued the English batsmen with the confidence to play their strokes.
New Zealand's best bowler, despite a lack of wickets, was Tim Southee. The right-armer finished with none for 47, including an opening maiden.
His first spell of five overs cost 14 runs, his second of two cost 10 and his death overs conceded 24, including 13 from the last. He demonstrated maturity adjusting his pace and variations.
Intrigue surrounded Ben Stokes first return to the international arena since he was charged with affray after a scrap outside a Bristol nightclub in September. He was ushered down a red carpet into New Zealand conditions by Canterbury with three List A and three T20s in December.
The crowd offered a vanilla reaction to his entrance; neither boos nor cheers held sway. He grappled to 12 off 22 balls against a mixture of pace and spin, before Santner lured him into a slog sweep from around the wicket. The ball ballooned to Taylor running to his right from backward point.
In contrast, Stokes' bowling was tight. His pace in the high 130km/h bracket and slower ball variations hinted at why he is considered such a valuable Indian Premier League all-rounder asset on his way to two for 43 from eight overs.
