25 overs England 101 for 2 (Trott 27*, Root 5*) v New Zealand
Live scorecard and ball-by-ball details
The latest example of one-day internationals going back in time a little was on display in Hamilton as England worked hard to lay a foundation in conditions that offered the New Zealand bowlers some help. Alastair Cook fell early, leaving Ian Bell and Jonathan Trott to live dangerously at times and try to play themselves back into middle mode after time on the sidelines.
Despite what happened in the Twenty20, when England's T20 captain Stuart Broad admitted making the wrong decision, Brendon McCullum decided to bowl first in Hamilton. Cook, who takes over the England captaincy from Broad, said he, too, would have bowled having looked at the ground statistics for ODIs which favour the side chasing.
Shortly before the midway mark the contest was evened up when Bell, advancing down the pitch, edged James Franklin to the wicketkeeper to end a well-constructed innings, but one that England could have done with being longer with Trott labouring at a strike-rate around 50.
England's top three are all fresh back to cricket; Cook and Bell have only had a few weeks of downtime but Trott has not played since the final Test against India in mid-December. It was hard to tell much about Cook's form before he was bowled by Mitchell McClenaghan, when the ball deflected off his back leg, but Trott batted like a man playing a little from memory despite flicking his first ball elegantly wide of mid-on.
Bell was the most fluent by far, driving nicely down the ground especially with the lofted six off Andrew Ellis that took him to fifty from 67 balls, and was starting to make New Zealand pay for dropping him on 26 when he top-edged a sweep off Nathan McCullum and was put down by BJ Watling running in from deep midwicket. It continued the theme of poor New Zealand catching from the Twenty20s. Bell could also have been run out, on 23, if Ross Taylor had not fumbled midwicket.
Trott had a more frustrating time at the crease. His first ball delivery was deceptive as after that the middle of the bat proved elusive. When he did time a shot it often found the fielders and after one such stroke he could be heard exclaiming his annoyance.
He was also involved in some interesting running incidents. There was nearly a mix-up with Bell which appeared to come from a lack of calling then, when stood a non-striker's end, was taken out by Nathan McCullum when the bowler dived across to field off his own delivery and knocked Trott down in a manner an All Black would be proud off. No fault at all, though, was attached to the bowler.
McCullum bowled with some nice flight and should have removed Bell. He also watched a top edge from Trott loop over short fine-leg. Of the other bowlers, Kyle Mills was tight with the new ball, McClenaghan continued to strike with the new ball and Ellis became tightly before Bell latched onto his sixth over.
New Zealand 1 Martin Guptill, 2 BJ Watling 3 Kane Williamson, 4 Ross Taylor, 5 Brendon McCullum (capt & wk), 6 Grant Elliott, 7 James Franklin, 8 Andrew Ellis, 9 Nathan McCullum, 10 Kyle Mills, 11 Mitchell McClenaghan
England 1 Alastair Cook (capt), 2 Ian Bell, 3 Jonathan Trott, 4 Joe Root, 5 Eoin Morgan, 6 Jos Buttler (wk), 7 Chris Woakes, 8 Stuart Broad, 9 Graeme Swann, 10 James Anderson, 11 Steven Finn
New Zealand lifted by Bell's wicket
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New Zealand lifted by Bell's wicket
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New Zealand lifted by Bell's wicket
