First Take: How much did we miss Dan Vettori?

England's Joe Root, right, celebrates with Jason Roy, left, and Sam Billings after catching New Zealand's Kane Williamson bowled Adil Rashid for 45. Photo / AP.

England 409
New Zealand 198
- England win by 210 runs

Where have you gone Dan Vettori? Our nation turns its lonely eyes to you.

Or, at the very least, those hunkered on their couches more than 18,000km from Edgbaston were feeling a little wistful for the just-retired maestro as New Zealand's bowlers were mercilessly taunted by a once-toothless England lineup.

If ever Brendon McCullum needed the safety blanket of a Vettori 10-1-50-1 spell it was in the early hours of this morning in Birmingham. On the flattest of flat decks, New Zealand conceded a garish 408 runs and the twin spin attack of Nathan McCullum and debutant Mitchell Santner went for 15-0-130-1.

And that was after Trent Boult (4-55) had done a nice job of removing both openers cheaply.

The ineffectiveness of the spinners meant Brendon McCullum had to go seeking five overs from elsewhere. He might have wished he hadn't, with Grant Elliott conceding a whopping 57 from those overs, though he did take two booby-prize wickets.

Neither spinner turned one off the straight. It is unlikely Vettori would have either, but then again he's never needed to.

Vettori had 14060 balls worth of ODI experience to call upon; Santner coming into this match had 0.

On a beautiful batting pitch against an England team desperate to make amends for an appalling World Cup campaign, it was always going to be tough for the 23-year-old Hamiltonian. As it was, he was far from the worst on display and his concession of eight per over off eight overs compared favourably to McCullum's 9.42 and the team total of 8.16.

Still, Vettori's career RPO of 4.12 looks pretty good, doesn't it?

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