England vs. New Zealand, 1st ODI, 2015: Highlights, Scorecard, Report

England (408-9) booked a record-setting win over New Zealand (198 all out) in Tueday's first ODI match, winning by 210 runs after a fantastic display.

Joe Root and Jos Buttler both hit centuries to give the hosts their biggest-ever ODI total before Steven Finn and Adil Rashid picked up four wickets each to limit the Black Caps to just 198 runs. The crowd at Edgbaston witnessed one of the finest ODIs the English team has played in years, against the finalists of the 2015 Cricket World Cup, no less.   

England's fantastic offensive display started off in the worst possible way, as the team lost its first wicket on the very first delivery. Martin Guptill caught Jason Roy, one of four wickets Trent Boult would take during the match.

			Runs	Minutes	Balls	4s	6s
Bowler	Overs	Maidens	Runs	Wickets
Roy	c Guptill	b Boult	0		1	0	0
Hales	c Henry	b Boult	20	29	20	3	0
Root	c Ronchi	b Boult	104	106	78	13	2
Morgan	lbw	b McClenaghan	50	67	46	1	3
Stokes		b Boult	10	23	15	1	0
Buttler	c Henry	b McClenaghan	129	103	77	13	5
Billings	lbw	b Santner	3	7	6	0	0
Rashid	c Guptill	b Elliott	69	87	50	7	2
Jordan	c Boult	b Elliott	2	7	4	0	0
Plunkett	not out		13	2	3	0	2
Finn	not out		0	29	0	0	0
Extras			8
Total	for 9 (50.0 ovs)		408
Boult	10.0	0	55	4
Henry	10.0	0	73	0
N McCullum	7.0	0	66	0
McClenaghan	10.0	0	93	2
Elliott	5.0	0	57	2
Santner	8.0	0	64	1

But the offence soon started to click. Root paired with Alex Hales (20 from 20) and Eoin Morgan (50 from 46) to power the team to a solid run rate, taking advantage of a handful of dropped catches to keep the run going.

Root needed just 41 balls to reach his ninth ODI 50, per Cricbuzz, and he continued his fine knock until Luke Ronchi caught him after he contributed 104 runs:

The Blacks Caps tried to increase the pressure on England's batsmen after dismissing Root, but Buttler picked up right where his team-mate left off and managed to increase the run rate even further.

Stuart Broad was blown away by his effort, as Buttler made a mockery off New Zealand's vaunted bowling attack:

By the time Buttler was caught for 129 from 77, both he and Root had blasted themselves into the cricket history books.

BreatheSport shared the list of fastest ODI centuries for England, with both batsmen suddenly finding themselves in the top four:

"

Fastest 100s for England in ODIs: 61-ball @josbuttler - 2014 66-ball @josbuttler - Today 69-ball @KP24 - 2005 71-ball @joeroot05 - Today

— BreatheSport (@BreatheSport) June 9, 2015"

Former cricketer Michael Vaughan was adamant fans had just witnessed one of the best batting displays in ODI history:

New Zealand made it all the way to the final of this year's Cricket World Cup in large part because of their excellent bowling, and Boult actually led the tournament in wickets, along with Australia's Mitchell Starc.

But the bowlers never showed up for this match. Boult's economy rate of 5.50 was the lowest among the Black Caps, with Matt Henry the next man on the list, sporting an economy rate of 7.30 and not picking up any wickets.

England's total of 408 smashed a number of ODI records, as shared by Sky Sports, and the Black Caps' chase appeared doomed from the start:

Things got even worse for the Black Caps, as star batsman Brendon McCullum was bowled by Steven Finn in the first over, all but ending their hopes of completing the chase.

			Runs	Minutes	Balls	4s	6s
Bowler	Overs	Maidens	Runs	Wickets
Guptill	c Buttler	b Finn	22	27	18	4	0
B McCullum		b Finn	10	4	4	2	0
Williamson	c Root	b Rashid	45	52	43	8	0
Taylor	lbw	b Finn	57	99	54	5	1
Elliott	run out (Billings)		24	39	27	2	0
Santner	c Jordan	b Rashid	15	21	23	2	0
Ronchi		b Rashid	0		1	0	0
N McCullum	c Jordan	b Finn	5	19	10	1	0
Henry	lbw	b Rashid	0	5	5	0	0
McClenaghan	c Hales	b Jordan	2	10	2	0	0
Boult	not out		0	0	0	0	0
Extras			18
Total	all out (31.1 ovs)		198
Finn	7.0	1	35	4
Jordan	5.1	0	33	1
Plunkett	5.0	0	37	0
Rashid	10.0	0	55	4
Stokes	4.0	0	28	0

The first half of the order did its very best to keep the Black Caps in this match, with Kane Williamson (45 from 43) and Ross Taylor (57 from 54) standing out the most. But with their run rate quickly dropping under England's, the chase became a hopeless one.

The back half was forced to swing for the fences as wickets tumbled in quick succession, and the last four batsmen couldn't even manage double-digit runs. Finn and Rashid both picked up four wickets, with the latter having a career day, per the ECB's official Twitter account:

Skipper McCullum gave full credit to the English side for their fantastic performance and explained why Tim Southee didn't feature for the Black Caps in Tuesday's match, per ESPNcricinfo:

"

It was good after the first ball but then there were two outstanding performances so credit to England they blew us off the park. I probably got it wrong at the toss, it didn't swing and the ball held up a bit in the second innings but don't take anything away from England it was a complete performance. We did really way to get back in the game taking wickets, at 200 for 6 and we felt like we could chase 250-300 but that seventh wicket played with no fear and it's tough when guys get in like that and we need to get better with the ball and stronger in our plans. We knew England would play positively but didn't expect 400! They just kept coming at us. We knew we had to hold firm and keep taking wickets but the game just got away from us. Tim Southee should be fine for the next match, he came up a bit sore after the Tests.

"

There has been a lot of negativity surrounding the English cricket team of late, highlighted by the disastrous performance at the 2015 World Cup, but Tuesday's showing reminded fans exactly what this team is capable of. It was a blueprint of how to play an ODI, with aggressive batting even after losing an early wicket and solid bowling against some of the world's top batsmen.

New Zealand won't care too much about this loss and will try to bounce back at The Oval on Friday in the second ODI, but this match should have a lasting impact on the English team. With a little bit of confidence and a healthy dose of aggression, this team is capable of so much more than it has shown in the past few months, and today was living proof of that.

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