England Power to Victory in Auckland

Kevin Pietersen admitted "the sky's the limit" for England after Dimitri Mascarenhas guided England to a comfortable 32-run victory in today's opening Twenty20 match against New Zealand in Auckland. The Hampshire all-rounder Mascarenhas injected much-needed momentum into England's stuttering innings by hitting 31 off 14 balls, including hit four sixes in succession off Jeetan Patel, to help the tourists reach 184 for eight after being put in to bat and maintain their 100% record on the New Zealand tour.

Mascarenhas then claimed two for 19 from his four overs, including the key wickets of Jamie How and Scott Styris, to help dismiss New Zealand for 152 and make amends for his disappointing ICC World Twenty20 tournament.

"I just tried to put the ball in the right area and a few things went my way," said Mascarenhas. "We needed a few at the end but to get a couple of wickets was really good."

Pietersen was in excellent touch during an explosive innings of 43 off 24 balls, including a six and six fours. "The guys are up for it," said Pietersen. "We've trained as hard as England ever have. We just want to get better as a team and as individuals. As long as we keep performing as we have done and keep getting better then the sky's the limit for this young side."

The tourists left out in-form Alastair Cook, who scored a hundred in Sunday's warm-up victory over Canterbury, and instead partnered Sussex all-rounder Luke Wright with wicketkeeper Phil Mustard at the the top of the order. The combination failed to spark - Wright fell at his third ball when he edged Chris Martin behind and was soon followed by Mustard, who hit 20 from 13 balls, being caught in the deep after miscuing an attempted pull.

Ian Bell fell cheaply to Jacob Oram's yorker, but Pietersen looked on course for a major innings until he was caught low down by Ross Taylor at mid-on. England's innings stagnated and it took Mascarenhas, who memorably hit five successive sixes off India's Yuvraj Singh at The Oval last summer, to ignite it. Debutant Jesse Ryder conceded only two runs and trapped Owais Shah lbw, but stand-in captain Brendon McCullum decided to take him off and bring back off-spinner Jeetan Patel.

It was a costly decision by McCullum, leading the side in the absence of injured captain Daniel Vettori, with Mascarenhas hitting four successive sixes before being caught in the deep in the next over off seamer Kyle Mills. His efforts enabled England to pass 180 and they built on their momentum with left-arm seamer Ryan Sidebottom claiming two wickets in an opening spell of 3-0-12-2 to dismiss McCullum and Taylor. Mascarenhas increased the pressure on New Zealand by striking with his second delivery to have How caught at long on, and in his next over he bowled Styris around his legs attempting a pull.

New Zealand lost wickets frequently with Ryder being run-out off Mascarenhas' bowling after slipping while attempting to return to the non-striker's end. Only big-hitting all-rounder Oram offered any continued threat and he raced to a 31-ball half-century - the highest score in the match - including five fours and two sixes. Oram was dismissed for 61 off 40 balls with four balls remaining after driving Sidebottom to long off, but by then even he had given up hope of securing an unlikely victory having started the final over needing 37 to win.

The result was a welcome boost to Peter Moores' squad after a dismal Test series defeat in Sri Lanka before Christmas. "Sri Lanka was hard," Pietersen added. "It was a real tough tour for the team and we were looking to get off to a winning start tonight because we didn't play as well as we can in Sri Lanka."

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