CHRISTCHURCH (New Zealand), Feb 6: New Zealand, humbled in their first Twenty20 encounter with England, was struck a further blow on the eve of the second match with all-rounder Jacob Oram out injured.

Oram is central to the New Zealand game plan and his defiant 61 was the only New Zealand innings of substance when they were thrashed by 32 runs in the opening match on Tuesday.

However, he confirmed on Wednesday he had tweaked a hamstring during the match and would not be taking part in Thursday’s second fixture in Christchurch.

Although the injury is not serious, he has been withdrawn to give him more time to recuperate fully before the first of five One-day Internationals on Saturday.

“I have a wee bit of a sore hamstring. It’s not completely torn and it’s not overly bad,” Oram said.

“It’s similar to what I did in South Africa (in November) where I missed a Test match but it’s nowhere near as bad as that, thankfully.”

Oram being out has made it even harder for New Zealand to square the Twenty20 series.

He was as economical with the ball as he was efficient with the bat, taking one for 24 off four overs.

“I’m more happy with the bowling than the batting to be honest,” he said.

Aside from Oram, only debutant Jesse Ryder (22) and bowler Kyle Mills (11) reached double figures as New Zealand never seriously threatened England’s imposing 184 for eight.

Oram’s robust knock from 40 balls was never going to be enough as the New Zealand top order crumbled just as they did against Australia and South Africa late last year.

Although England’s spearhead bowling trio of James Anderson, Ryan Sidebottom and Dimitri Mascarenhas kept the New Zealand batsmen tied down, Sidebottom taking three for 13, most of the dismissals came from poor shot selection.

The exception was Ryder, who was run out when he slipped trying to regain his crease after backing up too far.

In contrast for England, the early dismissal of Luke Wright for one was insignificant given the feature innings from Kevin Pietersen and Man-of-the-Match Mascarenhas.

Pietersen was all class as he scored freely around the ground, hitting 43 off 23 balls in a warning to New Zealand of what is to come through the five one-day matches and three Tests.

Big-hitting Mascarenhas clubbed four successive sixes off spinner Jeetan Patel, falling one short of the five consecutive sixes he hit against India’s Yuvraj Singh at the Oval last year.

Of the 10 England batsmen who made it to the middle, seven reached double figures and looked comfortable against the New Zealand bowlers.—AFP