KEY POINTS:
First blood to England, and with a bit to spare.
Having made 184 for eight they then fielded with urgency, and bowled spiritedly to keep New Zealand on an uphill slog throughout their reply at Eden Park last night.
Jacob Oram did his best to pull New Zealand
home with a rousing 61 in the final stages but England were well worth the win, which they achieved by 32 runs.
New Zealand's batting lacked urgency and skill. Too many batsmen tossed it away with poor shots and a soft underbelly was exposed. At the halfway mark they were 70 for six, Oram was left with too much to do and New Zealand need to get moving before tomorrow night's second Twenty20 contest in Christchurch.
England will be delighted. They have won their last two ODI series but their Twenty20 record is ordinary. This will put a spring in their step ahead of the longer short game starting on Saturday.
Oram's innings contained the usual quota of bludgeoned boundaries. Not enough of his teammates were able to do the business against some impressive bowling, notably from Ryan Sidebottom and man of the match Dimitri Mascarenhas, who snared five wickets between them.
Jesse Ryder hinted at good things with a couple of slashing blows before being run out, having been sent back but otherwise there was precious little to commend the New Zealand batting.
England's innings had two standout features. Firstly, Kevin Pietersen gave New Zealand a whirlwind glimpse of what they can expect in the weeks to come.
His 43 off 23 balls contained some bracing strokeplay, including a dismissive front-foot pulled six off Chris Martin well over the mid-wicket boundary.
Indeed Martin felt the bulk of Pietersen's heat. Thirty of the tall, exuberant batsman's runs came in 13 Martin deliveries.
There was the odd harem-scarem moment - one french cut whizzed past his leg stump, which might have had Martin pulling his hair out had he not already shaved it all off - but there is no doubt Pietersen is England's class batting act.
As an appetiser for what might lie ahead, it was highly revealing, not least for New Zealand's bowlers.
The other eye-catching contribution came from allrounder Mascarenhas. New Zealand were well in charge at 124 for five in the 16th over. Then Mascarenhas despatched four successive balls from Jeetan Patel onto the top tier of the west stand.
It was clean hitting and gave England a launchpad for a late charge. As it happened they finished with far more than they needed.
Mascarenhas has previous form for this sort of thing. Last year he plonked the last five balls of England's innings against India at The Oval into the crowd, the luckless bowler on that occasion being Yuvraj Singh.
Throw in his effort with the ball and he appeals as a distinctly handy one-day operator.
Patel had been brought on after Ryder's opening over had gone for just two and he'd picked up the wicket of Owais Shah. It was one of those decisions McCullum will be pondering over breakfast today.
Tim Southee did well on debut, better than his figures suggest - bowling on Eden Park is a thankless task if the batsmen ride their luck - and he was entrusted with two of the last three overs, which hints at the regard in which he's held by the team's decision makers.
New Zealand must wake up, and sharpish, if England aren't to steal a decent early march on this tour.
