New Zealand's Chris Martin celebrates after bowling England's Alastair Cook in the first one-day international at Westpac Stadium in Wellington yesterday. - AP

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP):

BRENDON MCCULLUM made 42 to complement a strong bowling performance as New Zealand strolled to a six-wicket win over England with 20 overs to spare yesterday in the first of five limited-overs matches.

England wilted after winning the toss and batting to be all out for 130 in 49.4 overs. McCullum urged New Zealand past that total with four wickets down in the 30th over.

Became unstuck

England had outplayed New Zealand in two Twenty20 internationals on sound batting pitches last week, but they came unstuck on a temporary pitch at the Westpac Stadium which was slow, spongy and defied shotmaking.

England took 15.2 overs to reach 50 and 33.4 overs to reach 100 as the slow pitch and New Zealand's tight bowling frustrated strokemaking.

Opener Phil Mustard was England's top scorer with 31, but he batted 101 minutes and faced 60 balls for those runs, hitting only two fours.

Chris Martin took the first two wickets, then Scott Styris, Jacob Oram and Daniel Vettori bowled superbly through the middle of the innings and the later powerplays to keep wickets falling and further slow the England run rate.

Styris bowled his 10 overs consecutively and took 2-22 with a mixture of in-swinging medium pacers and quick off-breaks.

Oram claimed dangerman Kevin Pietersen (six) in a tight spell in which he took 1-20 from eight overs. Vettori bowled his eight overs at a cost of 21 runs without taking a wicket.

Run-outs

The England batsmen, finding themselves tied down, resorted to desperate running, and Paul Collingwood (12), Owais Shah (20) and Graeme Swann (seven) all fell to run-outs. Off-spinner Jeetan Patel made the best of a rare one-day international appearance, cleaning up the tail to finish with 2-14.

Aware of the pitch's perils, McCullum and opening partner Jesse Ryder laid a careful foundation, putting on 61 for the first wicket, and New Zealand were able to reach their target with 20 overs to spare.

McCullum's 42 at a run a ball and Ryder's 31 from 50 balls laid the batting foundation for New Zealand's win. Jamie How built on that foundation with 28 from 41 balls and Ross Taylor hit the Kiwis home with an unbeaten 24.

Stuart Broad was the best of England's bowlers, taking 3-26.

"It's a little bit disappointing," England captain Collingwood said. "We didn't put enough runs on the board and with 130 we were always chasing the game with the ball. We needed wickets early but McCullum and Ryder got them off to a good start and we weren't able to pull them back."