Ross Taylor and Mitchell Santner give New Zealand dramatic win over England

Ben Stokes’s return was no celebratory occasion as New Zealand won an absorbing first ODI by three wickets. While the all-rounder was able to inspire England with the ball, the spoils belong to Ross Taylor, for a magnificent 113, and Mitchell Santner, whose blazing 45 not out off 27 balls took the Black Caps to their target of 285.

Santner’s cool head and long, nimble arms helped him to four towering sixes, the last of which finished the closest contest of the winter with four balls to spare. This was New Zealand’s ninth ODI win in a row and they travel to Mount Maunganui for the second ODI on the cusp of equalling their record 10-in-a-row, brought up during their run to the 2015 World Cup final.

Victory looked beyond them after Chris Woakes and David Willey, drafted in with Mark Wood suffering from a sore ankle, took out their top three for 27 runs – the former accounting for openers Martin Guptill and Colin Munro – midway through the 10th over. But England allowed Taylor and wicketkeeper Tom Latham to score 178 for the fourth wicket, as Eoin Morgan maligned the dew that tilted matters towards the hosts. Taylor became the fastest Black Cap to 7,000 ODI runs, while Latham ticked over 2,000. Taylor was able to add some short-term gratification, too, with an 18th ODI hundred from 108 balls.

Latham might have thought his luck was in for his fifth having been dropped on 47 by Jos Buttler and then on 77 by Jonny Bairstow. Just as the pair threatened to see New Zealand home, Morgan did what no England captain has been able to do for five months – turn to Stokes.

Starting in place of Alex Hales, who must be hoping this is not a terminal ousting just five days after signing a white-ball-only contract with Nottinghamshire, Stokes managed just 12 of England’s 284, but took two wickets in a surprise second spell to tilt the game his way.

Having a built up a good head of speed – his first over, in the 12th of the second innings, featured the three fastest balls of the match to that point – Stokes forced Latham to pull to mid on, before removing Colin de Grandhomme with a slower ball. Morgan, though dismayed in defeat, was glad to have his prized all-rounder back.

“I thought he adapted to conditions perfectly well, using slower balls well – it was something that we struggled to do while their [Taylor and Latham] partnership evolved,” said Morgan. Stokes ended up bowling eight overs, two for 43, having only been mooted to bowl a handful given this was his first international appearance since 24 September.

“After the first spell he said he could have bowled longer. He’ll certainly pull up stiff tomorrow.”

“He’s delighted to be back, he’s told everybody that. It’s an awesome feeling, when you’ve been away and you’re back in a fun environment, with lots of good friends around.”

The centurion Taylor vouched that Stokes shows no signs of ring-rust: “I’m sure he’ll be better for the hit-out. There are definitely no cobwebs there.”

Only Root and Buttler were able to find their feet on a pitch that Morgan said held rather than spun. New Zealand bowled first and Morgan’s gripes with dew and various other late-evening, atmospheric quirks suggest he would have done so too had the coin fallen his way.

Root, the designated driver of this ODI side, marshalling those encouraged to enjoy themselves, notched 71 – a 27th ODI fifty – continuing his form from the ODI series against Australia in which he scored 226 runs at an average of 75.33. However, it ranks crudely as a ninth unconverted half-century of the winter.

Buttler’s 15th ODI half-century was a stop-start affair; he took eight balls to get off the mark and then hit three successive sixes off the leg-spinner Ish Sodhi. His 50 took 41 balls, but Southee and Trent Boult took pace off at the death to restrict Buttler to 71 and England to an inadequate 284 for 8.