England have started their tour of New Zealand on an all-time high but they know much more will be required to make their Auckland record-breaking success count.
There is precious little time to come down and get back up again after the six-laden trouncing of their hosts at Eden Park on Saturday and before Tuesday's second of three Twenty20s. Luke Wright played a prominent role with bat and then ball as England piled up their highest-ever total of 214 for seven in the shortest format and then restricted the home reply to 174 for nine.
The all-rounder said of Saturday night's performance: "It was right up there. To get the record - with a bit of help from the smaller ground - the way everyone went in and kept expressing themselves and hit the ball was exciting."
He added: "But even at the halfway stage, we still felt that was almost par on that ground. So to then to bowl the way we did and restrict New Zealand to 170 on that was obviously a great effort and maybe the most pleasing thing of the night."
Wright added figures of two for 29 with his medium-pace to his 42 from just 20 balls at number three.
Others excelled themselves too, notably captain Stuart Broad with a career-best four for 24, but Wright pinpointed Eoin Morgan's fine catch running back at point to see off home captain Brendon McCullum as one of the most telling moments of the match.
"To outfield them last night - they dropped catches, but are normally one of the world's best units - was very pleasing," added Wright.
"The catch 'Morgs' took to get McCullum was up there. I knew myself how hard it was in that sky, so to take it over his shoulder was an unbelievable catch.
"In Twenty20 it's so important to take wickets, so catches like that make such a difference. It was a massive moment in the game....with someone like McCullum, if that goes down, who knows what might happen?"
Morgan spent time off the field during New Zealand's chase. The left-hander has jarred his back and England will assess his fitness at practice on Monday.
