england win cricket 20/20
England made a winning start against New Zealand with an impressive 32-run win in the first Twenty20 International in Auckland.
Dimitri Mascarenhas clobbered 41 off 14 balls, including four successive sixes off Jeetan Patel, as England made 184-8 after being put into bat.
The Hampshire all-rounder followed up his quick-fire innings with the bat by taking 2-19 with the ball, as the Black Caps fell well short in their run chase.
England's final margin of victory could have been greater had it not been for a defiant innings of 61 from all-rounder Jacob Oram.
His 40-ball knock was the only innings of note for the Kiwis, Jesse Ryder being the next highest scorer with 22.
Run out
The debutant looked to be a threat at the top of the order until he was run out at the non-striker's end, just one of several neat pieces of work in the field by England, who have certainly hit the ground running Down Under.
Ryan Sidebottom had put the home side on the back foot early on with two wickets, including the key scalp of stand-in skipper Brendon McCullum, in his second over.
Mascarenhas' dismissals of Jamie How and Scott Styris saw New Zealand slip to 90-7, much to the disappointment of the majority of a vocal crowd that spent the rest of the night lobbing tennis balls onto the field.
They were eventually bowled out for 152 in the final over, Sidebottom taking the final wicket of Oram to finish with excellent figures of 3-16.
England's innings had enjoyed a fast start but subsided in the middle overs. It needed Mascarenhas' fireworks to get it back on track.
The early loss of Luke Wright, selected ahead of the in-form Alastair Cook, for just one was overcome by some clean hitting from his opening partner Phil Mustard.
The Duham wicketkeeper-batsman, who impressed with the gloves later in the day, belted two fours and a six in his 13-ball 20 that helped get the run-rate up to 10-an-over.
Determined Pietersen
A determined Kevin Pietersen - clearly more at home on the drop-in pitch than the slow turners he batted on in Sri Lanka - carried on Mustard's good work.
He rode his luck with the occasional fortunate four to race to 43 and it came as a surprise when he gave his wicket away by clipping Patel to mid-wicket.
Owais Shah came in and contributed 23 but his departure, trapped leg before trying a delicate sweep, left England five down for 117 in the 14th over.
Mascarenhas soon got the momentum going again with his amazing assault on Patel. His four home run hits off the off-spinner, playing because Kiwi skipper Daniel Vettori is sidelined, upped the run rate and although he didn't last too much longer, his innings was crucial.
Graeme Swann and Sidebottom both managed boundaries off the last over from 19-year-old debutant Tim Southee to take the tourists up to an impressive final score that proved well out of the Kiwis' reach.
The two teams now move onto Christchurch for the second Twenty20 International before the start of the one-day series on Saturday.
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