Southee, McCullum blitz humiliates England by 8 wickets in WC tie

New Zealand rightfully justified their World Cup favourites tag as the Brendon McCullum-led side decimated England by eight wickets in their group stage tie at Westpac stadium in Wellington.

Initially, pace spearhead Tim Southee stole the show as he flexed his muscles to expose England's batting line-up on Friday.

Winning the toss and opting to bat first, England were reeling at 57 for three wickets in the 13th over as openers Moeen Ali (20) and Ian Bell (8) failed to provide initial thrust for the team before bowled out by Southee's express deliveries.

Gary Ballance could only manage to add 10 runs before Joe Root (46) found an able ally in skipper Eoin Morgan (17) as the duo provides some relief to the sinking ship by building a 47-run fourth-wicket partnership.

Following the crucial scalp of Morgan by veteran spinner Daniel Vettori, England collapsed like a pack of cards as they could further add only 19 more runs.

Southee, who has been named Man-of-the-Match, wreaked havoc on England as he captured seven wickets to limit Morgan's side to 123.

Chasing the paltry target, McCullum smacked a brisk 77 runs off just 25 balls, with Martin Guptill on the other end contributing 22 runs before being bowled out by Chris Woakes' deliveries.

Subsequently, Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor chased down the target with 226 balls remaining to stay on top of the Pool A with six points.