New Zealand v England: Cricket World Cup – as it happened

·                               New Zealand hammer England to secure eight-wicket win

·                                 Southee’s career best 7 for 33 skittles England for 123

·                                 McCullum’s 77 from 25 sees target achieved inside 13 overs.

Updated

New Zealand’s captain Brendon McCullum plays almost a lone hand in running down a meagre England total. Photograph: Anthony Phelps/REUTERS

John Ashdown (first innings) andVithushan Ehantharajah (second innings)

Friday 20 February 2015 17.01 AEDTLast modified on Friday 20 February 201517.06 AEDT

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Key events

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6.01am17:01

Right - that’s it from me.

Enjoy your Fridays. And if you come across an England fan, give them a hug and assure them it’ll all be OK.

5.59am16:59

Tempted to pick the bones out of that, but let’s be honest, England were always going to be up against it with Australia and New Zealand as their first two matches.

That being said, they missed chances against Australia and were hammered out of sight here. Eoin Morgan says there are no positives to be taken out of this eight-wicket defeat.

He still reckons they could get to the quarter-finals, and I’m inclined to believe him.

Twice in the last two months that a Kiwi has featured on Sports Center...

5.44am16:44

POOL A (AS IT STANDS)

England fans, it’s worth factoring in that Bangladesh v Australia tomorrow will mostly likely end in a washout and a point each.

I mean, if you can, don’t factor it in. Just go out and enjoy your Friday. Hug a loved one. Sing the songs that you want to sing.

Look away now Photograph: ESPNcricinfo

5.36am16:36

Right, let’s get through some e-mails.

“New Zealanders are not smug they have played brilliantly - credit where credit is due. Well done Black Caps.” Well said, Mary Schumacher.

“I normally don’t enjoy one-sided contests,” begins Peter Leybourne, “but this is England being flogged. It’s schadenfreude with a side of bete noir.”

I think I had bete noir, once.

5.34am16:34

13th over: New Zealand 125-2 (Williamson 9, Taylor 5)

Taylor skies one and, of course, it lands safe, just meters away from the pitch. Broad then finishes the match with five wides. Shame. Am sure he would have liked to finish the game with some penalty runs - perhaps ball on helmet or fly-tipping.

5.31am16:31

New Zealand win by 8 wickets!

Broad finishes the game with a superbly directed bouncer, that lifts over Jos Buttler’s head and runs away to the fence for five wides.

England’s pace attack reflects on a job. Done, well.. Photograph: Shaun Botterill/Getty Images

Updated at 5.43am GMT

5.30am16:30

12th over: New Zealand 119-2 (Williamson 9, Taylor 4)

Woakes with a really good over.

Nothing to get too excited about - a bit like finding your shoes after your house has been blown away in a hurricane. But well plugged-away. Good pluggage.

5.25am16:25

11th over: New Zealand 119-2 (Williamson 9, Taylor 4)

“So I’m in New Zealand for my sisters wedding and her husbands family have organised an evening to watch the cricket over a few beers,” begins Tim O’Callaghan.

“I now have to go as the sole Englishman and, with nothing even to watch, listen to an entire evening of smug banter and, worse, knowing pity. Thanks England...” All the best to your family and your sis on this special day. Remember, because you know the person getting married, you’re definitely allowed to hit someone if they ribbing goes too far.

Just the three off that Broad over. Five to win.

5.21am16:21

10th over: New Zealand 116-2 (Williamson 6, Taylor 4)

Forgot we had one Power Player over left. Woakes is bowling it and there’s a hint of away swing, which seems to fill the slip cordon with “meh”. And a wicket! Guptill is on his way. Woakes raises his arm and continues through his follow-through. Doesn’t quite go full Marco Tardelli, which is a shame. Ross Taylor gets off the mark with a four and Woakes looks distraught. Dot to finish.

Tom King has just been bantered off:

“Just got this email from my Australian friend Kyle Hopkins: ‘If the ICC persists in allowing these minnow teams into the competition there are going to be these blowouts!’”

Tom, if Kyle is sending you those kind of e-mails, he’s not your friend.

5.17am16:17

WICKET! Guptill b Woakes 22 (New Zealand 112-2)

That’s actually a good piece of bowling - nipped in and through the defences of Guptill. I reckon there are about two positives - three at a stretch - that we can take from that.

5.13am16:13

Okay guys and gals, let’s do this.

Just 12 more runs and England fans can retire to our respective holes. If someone could get hold of Bob Willis right after New Zealand complete this victory, then that would at least provide some light relief, not least because he’d probably be a right grumpus at this hour. Or maybe he’s one of those early risers?

Dean Raffan e-mails in to offer more Oz-based sympathy: “For the first time in 43 years I actually feel sorry for England. I certainly didn’t after the Ashes, nor after the previous ODIs ... but there has to be SOME chance ... at SOME stage that your opponent might get off the floor and come back swinging. Any game that revives serious discussion or a Mercy Rule is not good.”

The players are back out... 

5.03am16:03

Sky Sports (UK) are showing highlights of the New Zealand innings.

In case you missed it, here are highlights of Tim Southee’s 7 for 33:

4.39am15:39

Ted Bilek, thanks for waiting patiently in my inbox: “Perhaps the lads are just saving themselves for the knockout rounds?” Definite early candidate for #MooresQuotes.

Steve Rackett reckons England should have opened with Woakes, a sentiment I agree with. However, it transpires that he might be joking: “Against Scotland, can England open with Woakes and get him to bowl filth? We might keep them below 450.”

Thoughts with Anthony Barley, a Melbourne-based England fan: “Sat here at work, following the debacle in NZ with my Aussie colleagues rolling around the floor in uncontrollable bouts of laughter.”

4.34am15:34

9th over: New Zealand 112-1 (Guptill 22, Williamson 6)

A lot of e-mails to whittle through - sorry for my negligence.

“Its only he second day of the year of the Goat, and already somethings getting my goat,” writes Andrew Benton. “This England performance.” He then serves up some more goat related puns. Colombian international cricketer Olly West joins us having rushed back from his Salsa class. His Bogota CC are touring Medellin for the first time, this weekend. I hope it rains.

No boundary off that over. AND THAT’S LUNCH, with one over of Power Play left and 12 runs to get.

Seriously, *imagine* the hilarity if the heavens opened...

4.30am15:30

8th over: New Zealand 109-1 (Guptill 21, Williamson 4)

McCullum goes first ball. Snicko says he’s edged it into leg stump, which is basically double-out. Kane Williamson comes on the scene in place of B-Mac. It’s sort of like the girlfriend you had at school who ditched you and then went out of the Jock. Then she got that phase out of her system and now she’s knuckling down with someone serious. And he’s a bloody good on-driver. Four off the fifth ball.

4.25am15:25

WICKET!!!! AAAAAAAAAHH!!! (McCullum b Woakes 77 - New Zealand 105-1)

McCullum goes. World class full toss from Chris Woakes, who hits the top of leg stump - exactly what they teach the young kids, that.

New Zealand’s captain Brendon McCullum acknowledges the crowd, after being dismissed for 77 runs from 25 deliveries. Photograph: Anthony Phelps/REUTERS

4.23am15:23

7th over: New Zealand 105-0 (Guptill 21, McCullum 77 off 24)

“Any chance you could switch to ball-by-ball commentary?” asks Allan Hobbs. “It feels like it could be done and dusted by the time you post the next update.”

No sixes, yet, and we’re five balls into the over. The final ball is pushed down the ground for a single. Superb stuff!

Eight from that over...

4.17am15:17

6th over: New Zealand 96-0 (Guptill 18, McCullum 72 off 21)

Finn starts with a four, thus taking the press off himself for the rest of the over. “Not the start to my birthday I was hoping for,” writes Timothy Beecroft. Happy Birthday, TB. “But Jeremy Coney is in cracking form. McCullum is a “cricketing pirate “ with “those sinuous wrists”, “when he hit that I thought they’d need an ordnance map to find it”, “it’s not elegant but it’s galvanic”.

“Can the umpires stop the match?” asks Steve Rackett. No mercy rule here, Steve. They might even delay tea. McCullum smacks Finn for two sixes in a row, the first of which brings up his sixty and the second dents the roof of that pissing car. England move the field, as if that matters. McCullum goes even bigger down the ground for another six. And then another one. Four in a row. Shitting hell.

!

4.10am15:10

5th over: New Zealand 67-0 (Guptill 13, McCullum 48 off 17)

“Is it possible to broadcast footage of Kevin Petersen watching this debacle?” suggests Patrick Over. “I imagine much wincing and glee. He must be glad to have avoided his peers being the English cricket team (sic).”

Guptill’s tied down for two balls - a “JOIN THE DOTS LADS!” wouldn’t go amiss here. The ultimate club cricket shout. It doesn’t really mean anything. Join them? This isn’t piss-about time at nan’s - this is cricket, you snuff. Aerial through mid-wicket for four - ruining the three-dot sequence that would have turned this game around, a wide and then a tickle to fine leg for the over’s second four. The rest of the over happens.

4.06am15:06

4th over: New Zealand 57-0 (Guptill 8, McCullum 48 off 16)

Finn on for Broad - SIX. Another dance down, more runs. Second ball is flick-ramped over the keeper’s head for four! I’m being sent more ex-pro tips that I’d like; Michael Gascoigne forwards on Andrew Flintoff’s view that “England are on the verge of doing something special in this form of the game”. Short from Finn and McCullum thumps it to the square leg boundary. Over-correction, down the ground for six and it nearly hits a car. WHAT IS A CAR DOING AT LONG ON?! Play and a miss to finish off.

I believe the French call this “shithouse”.

New Zealand’s captain Brendon McCullum hitting one of seven sixes in a blitzing cameo.Photograph: Anthony Phelps/REUTERS

4.01am15:01

3rd over: New Zealand 37-0 (Guptill 8, McCullum 28)

Guppy - Steve to his mates - edges aerially towards third man and everyone’s a bit excited, but it’s one bounce to Ali for a single. McCullum then runs at Anderson and flays him over cover-point for anotherboundary. Another thick slap goes to more or less the same part of the sponge for another four. We’re now getting sympathy from the Aussies:

James Lane’s finding it “gruesome”. However, Richard Wood is laughing at Paul Collingwood’s assertion that England have the “most powerful” batting line-up.

3.56am14:56

2nd over: New Zealand 27-0 (Guptill 7, McCullum 19)

First six of the match, off Broad’s first ball, is up and over point. Smart, that; hooping and you dish out something short and wide. Fuller and straighter for the next before going through an on-rushing McCullum. Repeat effort from B-Mac, and this time it’s straight back over Broad’s head for four. Ah, that’s what he was trying to do. Broad decides to go back to something a bit shorter and it’s flayed through point for four. Then over cover for four.

STOP GETTING CRICKET WRONG!

3.51am14:51

Andy Bradshaw with my first e-mail of the day.

“Don’t forget Moores is the ‘Outstanding coach of his generation’ and to be fair to the batsmen, it’s hard for them, they’re not used to playing against bowlers that BOWL AT THE STUMPS FOR GODS SAKE!”

3.50am14:50

1st over: New Zealand 9-0 (Guptill 7, McCullum 1)

Anderson starts with a wide and everyone thinks it’s funny. STOP LAUGHING AT US! Better, next up, as Guptill plays and misses and there is shape. Moeen Ali is brought up from third man into fourth slip. Full from Anderson and Guptill throws his wrists into it, square forFOUR! Controlled edge runs down to the vacant third man position for three. McCullum edges one to third man.

3.44am14:44

The players are back out after a 10 minute break.

BECAUSE THAT’S WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU BAT FIRST AND GET BOWLED OUR FOR 123 - YOU MUST GO BACK OUT AS A TEAM AND FACE YOUR MORTALITY BEFORE SUSTENANCE!

Anderson with the new ball, Guptill facing up first...

3.39am14:39

Thanks to that godawful shambles from England, New Zealand will be back out in 10 minutes for one of those strange mini-sessions before they take a proper lunch. Vithushan Ehantharajah will be here very shortly to guide you through the run chase.

3.37am14:37

END OF INNINGS: England 123 all out

In the two matches so far England have looked miles off the pace. It’s actually pretty incredible just how outclassed they have been.

On a flat deck the brilliant Tim Southee finished with figures of seven for 33.

“Poor old Ingerland just look ... broken,” writes Sarah Bacon. “During these semi-seasonal ‘off’ periods, one could at least depend upon the team nevertheless described as ‘plucky’, even if ‘losers’ was dropped into the same sentence. Big sigh. Not really worth the 5am start, sadly. It’s one thing to watch England being beaten, but being crushed? Even this Aussie fan is finding it very difficult to swallow. It’s just not fun anymore.”

Captain Eoin Morgan embodies the dejection of the rest of the English team as he finishes third top scorer with 17. Photograph: Shaun Botterill/Getty Images

3.35am14:35

WICKET! Root c Southee b Milne 46 (England 123 all out)

And that’s that. Root crashes four through backward point but next up looks to pull and can only top edge to deep backward square leg.

What. A. Mess.

3.33am14:33

32nd over: England 119-9 (Anderson 1, Root 42) It was poor shot from Finn, edging to Taylor at first slip, but what was Root thinking there? Surely he has to farm the strike in that situation. He looks utterly crestfallen at the non-strikers’ end and well he might. Anderson, in the firing line, digs out another inswinging yorker. Southee has become the fourth player to take seven wickets in a World Cup innings. No one has ever taken eight.

3.30am14:30

WICKET! Finn c Taylor b Southee 0 (England 116-9)

Southee has 12 balls more to bowl. Root takes a single. Can Finn see him out? Er, no.

In seventh heaven - Tim Southee knocks over another English batsman. Photograph: Shaun Botterill/Getty Images

3.27am14:27

31st over: England 116-8 (Finn 0, Root 40) Finn stoutly plays out a maiden to Boult.

“Greetings from sunny Wellington,” writes Caro Cowan. “My first time watching England play overseas. I’m surrounded by Kiwis. Not the best day of my holiday so far. At least I will be out of here early enough to find some good wine in which to drown my sorrows.”

3.23am14:23

30th over: England 116-8 (Finn 0, Root 40) Southee has the chance to send down two balls at Root. But the England No4 survives.

3.21am14:21

WICKET! Broad c Vettori b Southee 4 (England 116-8)

Southee v Broad – this could be interesting. And brief. And, yes. Yes it is. It’s first blood to Broad, who clumps him over the top for a couple, but then a hideous, lazy-looking leading edge plops the simplest of catches to Vettori at mid-off. On the basis of that innings, it’s hard to think of a major side with a weaker No9.

3.17am14:17

29th over: England 114-7 (Broad 2, Root 40) Trent Boult returns too. McCullum wants to finish this and finish it quickly. The question now, as Marie Meyer points out, is whether England can top Scotland’s score of 142 against the Black Caps. At the moment I wouldn’t bet on it. Broad, for his part, looks like he has entirely forgotten how to bat. Remember the old occasionally Goweresque Stuart Broad? This is not him.

“I’m not sure you’ll find the room or the time to publish my comment given how England’s wickets are falling all in a heap, but here goes,” begins Suresh Nair. “In a sport increasingly dominated by heavier, bigger bats and short boundaries creating unfair conditions for bowlers, I’m very pleased to see aggressive fast bowling making such a strong comeback. Along with New Zealand, South Africa and Australia appear the most balanced teams with strong attacks and should do well in this tournament. Even though I’m a fan of team India, I don’t mind at all that their chances look poor - this is spectacular viewing and excellent value for money.”

3.13am14:13

28th over: England 112-7 (Broad 1, Root 39) Southee has five-for. England are being blown away by high-quality swing bowling. It’s carnage. Southee gets a deserved ovation as he heads back to his fielding position in the deep – his figures: 7-0-28-5

3.10am14:10

WICKET! Woakes b Southee 1 (England 110-7)

Woakes is a millimetre away from being cleaned up first ball, but the thinnest of edges saves the day. For a ball. Southee is serving up some majestic stuff and he cleans Woakes up with another jaffer. Cripes.

Tim Southee celebrates another wicket - en route to almost single-handedly dismantling England.Photograph: Shaun Botterill/Getty Images

3.08am14:08

WICKET! Buttler c Ronchi b Southee 3 (England 108-6)

Another one! And this is all about pressure. Southee swings the first ball of his seventh over away from Buttler outside off. It’s utterly leavable but the batsman feels he has to take advantage and swings at it. Edge. Pouch. Gone.

3.06am14:06

27th over: England 108-5 (Buttler 3, Root 38) A big appeal as Vettori zaps one into Root’s pad. The umpire says no, but that looked out to me, and Hawkeye shows it was clipping the top off middle. Another excellent over from Vettori who has quietly got himself figures of 7-0-19-1.

3.03am14:03

26th over: England 106-5 (Buttler 2, Root 37) That ball to Taylor just gets better with every replay. It’s angled in towards middle stump before swinging away at the last possible split second to beat the outside edge of the bat and clip the outside of off stump. And he almost repeats the trick to Buttler. A terrific little spell for the home side. New Zealand are all over England here.

3.00am14:00

WICKET! Taylor b Southee 0 (England 104-5)

In comes James Taylor. Out goes James Taylor. With blood back in the water McCullum brings back Southee who produces another absolute gem. It’s a swinging yorker, far too good for Taylor to cope with second ball.

2.58am13:58

26th over: England 104-4 (Taylor 0, Root 36) That was the final ball of the over. And England are back in the sticky stuff.

2.56am13:56

WICKET! Morgan c Milne b Vettori 17 (England 104-4)

What. A. Catch. Morgan looks to plant Vettori into the stands at long on, but doesn’t get quite enough on it. Milne makes the ground from wide midwicket and takes a stunning diving catch to remove the England captain.

Adam Milne makes up great ground to dismiss England’s skipper, Eoin Morgan. Photograph: Shaun Botterill/Getty Images

Updated at 3.19am GMT

2.53am13:53

25th over: England 102-3 (Morgan 16, Root 36) England bring up a laboured 100 with a couple of leg byes off Anderson. At the halfway point these two have steadied the good ship England. Eight an over from here will take them to 300, and that’s still the target they have to have in mind.

2.49am13:49

24th over: England 98-3 (Morgan 15, Root 36) Vettori continues and has Morgan pinned down for a few balls before being tickled away for a single. More fine fielding, this time from Trent Boult, keeps Root down to one from the last. The Black Caps have been brilliant in the field thus far.

Ian Smith heads off on a tangent about logs. Apparently logs are now New Zealand’s third biggest export behind meat and dairy. So, now you know.

Updated at 2.50am GMT

2.45am13:45

23rd over: England 96-3 (Morgan 14, Root 35) Corey Anderson enters the attack with his muscular left-arm medium. Root thick-edges through the vacant gully region for a single. Morgan, desperately searching for some form, mistimes a couple of attempted cuts outside off. Anderson helpfully offers him a half-volley and the captain gratefully drives through the covers for four.

2.40am13:40

22nd over: England 89-3 (Morgan 9, Root 34) Some slightly disconcerting heavy breathing is coming from the commentary box, the culprit unknown. Ian Smith looks the likeliest. And someone working for a sponsor wanders across the sightscreen, then gets pulled up by England bowling coach David Saker, who seems to be explaining her error.

Meanwhile, Milne continues, Morgan pulls for a single, and Root drives sweetly for three.

2.37am13:37

21st over: England 84-3 (Morgan 8, Root 30) Root straight drives Vettori for a single, just as he has done in his previous two overs, then Morgan squirts a single into the off side, ending a run of 10 dot balls for the England captain. And from the last he makes himself a bit of room and plays confidently through the covers for a coupel more.

2.33am13:33

20th over: England 79-3 (Morgan 5, Root 28) Milne grits his teeth and storms in again – Root plays with soft hands wide of the man at slip for a couple, then top-edges a pull away for four down to fine leg.

2.30am13:30

19th over: England 72-3 (Morgan 5, Root 21) Vettori again. Root, beginning to look quietly settled out there now, pushes for an easy single. He has 21 from 36, Morgan five from 20. The captain has now played nine balls without scoring.

2.27am13:27

18th over: England 71-3 (Morgan 5, Root 20) Milne returns. Morgan stays watchful, playing out three four five six dots. A maiden, the second of the innings.

2.22am13:22

17th over: England 71-3 (Morgan 5, Root 20) The evergreen Vettori once again skips in. Root and Morgan happily milk a few singles.

2.19am13:19

16th over: England 67-3 (Morgan 4, Root 17) Root slaps Boult away for three down to the deep extra cover boundary, then Morgan flicks for three more.

“Incredible decison to bring Ballance in at No3, whereas Taylor adapts to the situation and is in form,” Matt Cast. “Oh England. I’m already looking back with nostalgia to last night’s balanced, if less glamorous, game.” It always looked an odd move to switch the only genuinely bang-in-form batsman into a position where he would face fewer balls (though given the way the top order has played thus far Taylor is likely to get plenty of time out in the middle from No6). To justify it, Ballance would have to be in much better nick than Bopara, seeing as the latter also brings a bowling option. Though RavBop had been horribly out of form himself. England certainly have food for thought at the top of the order.

2.13am13:13

15th over: England 60-3 (Morgan 1, Root 13) Daniel Vettori comes into the attack.

Morgan gets off the mark with a punch through point. That’ll be something of a relief. There’s a nervous bit of shall-we-shan’t-we as Root ponders a run to the onrushing Boult, but Morgan finally makes the right decision and stays put. From the last Morgan attempts the reverse-sweep but can’t lay bat on ball.

2.10am13:10

14th over: England 57-3 (Morgan 0, Root 11) Ballance was never comfortable out there. He’s hardly made a cast-iron case for his inclusion in the opening two games. So with England under intense pressure, an under-pressure captain comes to the crease – a sentence that could have been copied and pasted from pretty much any OBO from the last 25-odd years. Morgan survives the final five balls of Boult’s over, and presumably his spell.

2.07am13:07

WICKET! Ballance c Williamson b Boult 10 (England 57-3)

Ballance’s ugly innings comes to the ugliest of ugly ends. Boult bangs one in short, Ballance makes such a mess of an attempted pull that he toe-pokes the thing straight to the man at short extra. U.G.L.Y, you ain’t got no alibi …

Was it Gary or was it the bat? Time for a new Ballance. Photograph: Shaun Botterill/Getty Images

Updated at 2.36am GMT

2.04am13:04

13th over: England 57-2 (Ballance 10, Root 11) Milne strays a touch too full and Root punches him through the covers for four, the first boundary since the fifth over. Ballance moves into double figures with a little glance off his hip from the last.

2.00am13:00

12th over: England 51-2 (Ballance 9, Root 6) Boult continues. Ballance hasn’t settled at all here and he finds himself groping once more outside off. A flick to leg brings him a couple, though, and a clever little dab to third man brings three more – it would’ve been four but for a brilliant bit of fielding on the rope from Milne – but then he’s again fishing nervously outside off from the last.

1.55am12:55

11th over: England 46-2 (Ballance 5, Root 5) A first bowling change – Adam Milne, the quickest of the New Zealand attack, enters the fray. He’s a bit loose, flinging down a couple of wides, but when he gets his radar sorted out he’s a threat. He gets one to nip back in to the left-handed Ballance, then follows it up with one that zips past the outside edge.

1.49am12:49

10th over: England 43-2 (Ballance 5, Root 4) Replays show that Southee delivery to Ballance in the last over was out, out, out – pitching on leg and swinging into the top of leg stump. There wasn’t a huge reaction from the field, so even if New Zealand had their appeal remaining there’s no guarantee that they would’ve used it. Boult has another big appeal in this over after finding Root’s pad, but there’s a pretty clear inside edge this time.

 I think they would settle for that given the early movement.

Updated at 1.50am GMT

1.45am12:45

9th over: England 41-2 (Ballance 5, Root 3) Southee once more. There’s another yelp of an appeal as he swings one into Ballance’s pads – looked to pitch outside off to me but it wasn’t far away. It’s another fine over.

1.42am12:42

8th over: England 39-2 (Ballance 5, Root 1) Ballance adds to the tally with a flick to leg as Boult overpitches a touch in search of that elusive swing. And Root gets off the mark with something very similar.

1.36am12:36

7th over: England 36-2 (Ballance 4, Root 0) So the Yorkshire pair at No3 and No4 have a rebuilding job to do. McCullum goes back to four slips – you have to admire the ballsiness of his captaincy.

1.33am12:33

WICKET! Ali b Southee 20 (England 36-2)

More brilliant bowling from Southee and he’s clean bowled both England openers. He sets Ali up with the short one then fires in an inswinging yorker that pings into the batsman’s off stump.

Moeen Ali is bowled by New Zealand’s Tim Southee for 20. Photograph: Anthony Phelps/REUTERS

Updated at 2.00am GMT

1.30am12:30

6th over: England 35-1 (Ballance 4, Ali 20) Boult finds some movement and slams Ballance on the pad. The appeal goes up, but the umpire’s finger doesn’t. McCullum hears enough from the bowler and Luke Ronchi behind the stumps to opt for the review. The ball, though, is only clipping the top of the stumps so we stay with the umpire’s call.

Meanwhile in Brisbane, it’s not looking too good for Bangladesh v Australia on Saturday …

1.24am12:24

5th over: England 31-1 (Ballance 1, Ali 19) There are leg-spinners who would be happy to see the sort of movement of the pitch that Southee got there and he’s a gnat’s wing away from doing Ballance first up, but the England No3 gets a thick edge onto the ball to deflect it away. Ali, meanwhile, sends a gorgeous straight drive back past the bowler for four then follows up by smashing him over cover for four more. Southee offers another wide one, Ali throws the bat at it, and the edge flies over the man at slip and away to the rope at third man. Thirteen runs and a wicket from the over.

1.20am12:20

WICKET! Bell b Southee 8 (England 18-1)

A cracker from Southee, who finds just enough movement with a full, fast delivery to beat Bell’s bat and clatter into off stump. Not one that Bell will enjoy looking at again, but it was a more than decent delivery.

Ian Bell trudges off, dejected after being bowled by Tim Southee. Photograph: Mark Kolbe/Getty Images

Updated at 1.32am GMT

1.19am12:19

4th over: England 18-0 (Bell 8, Ali 7) Boult drops a touch short and Bell gets up on his tip-toes and thrashes through point for four. Fine shot. And the pair put bat on ball more often than not here, working the singles nicely.

Updated at 1.21am GMT

1.15am12:15

3rd over: England 11-0 (Bell 2, Ali 6) Bell gets authoritative bat on ball for the first time, but the bowler gets his fingertips to it to take the sting out of the shot and it’s just another single. There’s no stopping the next though, with Ali pouncing on a short one from Southee and pulling hard to square leg for the first boundary of the innings.

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1.09am12:09

2nd over: England 4-0 (Bell 1, Ali 2) McCullum has four – four! – slips in as Trent Boult steams in to Moeen Ali, who blocks-and-runs for the first runs off the bat. Just two slips for Bell, who flicks one round the corner for another single, and a fine piece of fielding from McCullum keeps Ali to one from a nicely timed push through extra cover.

1.05am12:05

1st over: England 1-0 (Bell 0, Ali 0) Off we go then. The consensus seems to be that this is a 300 pitch. Tim Southee kicks things off with the new ball and finds a bit of away movement from the get go. Bell leaves alone outside off and England get off the mark with a wide. Soft hands mean an edge drops well short of second slip as Southee finds a nagging line and length just outside off.

12.57am11:57

A quick warning: it’s getting on for 1am here in the UK and I’m suffering from a heavy bout of what several people have told me is “man flu”. If things get a bit sketchy later on then do let me know. And if someone could pop round with some grapes and Lucozade that would be grand.

12.46am11:46

As far as England are concerned a win isn’t vital today in terms of qualification for the last eight, but it would certainly ease the pressure. For New Zealand a win would mean three out of three and would maintain the momentum they’ve built up thus far.

12.40am11:40

Some pre-match entertainment …

12.37am11:37

Weather watch: it’s a beautiful day in Wellington. Sunshine, not too hot, no rain on the horizon, perfect.

12.36am11:36

New Zealand team

The Black Caps are also unchanged.

New Zealand team: Guptill, B McCullum, Williamson, Taylor, Elliott, Anderson, Ronchi, Vettori, Milne, Southee, Boult.

12.34am11:34

The toss

Eoin Morgan calls tails … and it is tails. England are going to have a bat on what looks to be a belting track.

12.33am11:33

England team

England are unchanged from the side that lost so convincingly to Australia in their opening game.

England: Ali, Bell, Ballance, Root, Morgan, Taylor, Buttler, Woakes, Broad, Finn, Anderson.

12.00am11:00

Good morning/evening/night

John will be here shortly. In the meantime, here’s Mike Selvey’s match preview:

Life in New Zealand always seems just that little bit less frenetic than in Australia. In Wellington, stunning with the sun out, England have had their civic welcomes and traditional greetings. The hospitality is always overwhelming and they have practised at the lovely old Basin Reserve.

On Friday afternoon though, more than 30,000 will pack into the functional austere grey harbourside rugby stadium, known affectionately as the Cake Tin, hospitality will cease and hostility will take its place. This is a ground with mixed memories for England. In a one-day international in 2002, New Zealand made only 244 and still won by 155 runs after Nasser Hussain had put them in.

Six years later, England chose to bat first and so heavy was the going that they managed only 130 in two balls short of the full 50 overs: New Zealand won with 20 overs and six wickets to spare. Overall, New Zealand have won twice as many games here as they have lost.

Two years ago though, in a T20 game, Steven Finn bowled with searing pace, Stuart Broad with vigour, and when it came to it, Michael Lumb and Alex Hales pulverised the Black Caps to a 10-wicket defeat. It has not been all bad.