New Zealand defeated Zimbabwe by 90 runs in the first one-day international at Dunedin on Friday as poor batting by the tourists undermined a creditable bowling effort.
Zimbabwe, reeling from a humiliating innings-and-301-run defeat in a one-off Test in Napier last week, were set an achievable target of 249 after winning the toss and sending New Zealand in to bat on a seaming wicket.
But the hard work by Zimbabwe paceman Shingi Masakadza, who took four for 46, was undone by a weak batting display in which captain Brendan Taylor's 58 off 68 balls was the sole bright spot.
New Zealand opener Martin Guptill produced a man-of-the-match display in scoring 70 to anchor the home side's innings, while promising all-rounder Rob Nicol took four wickets for 19 in his fourth one-day international.
"We just weren't good enough today," Taylor said. "We'll go back to the drawing board with the batting and a few areas with the ball, but we we just outplayed by a better side."
New Zealand were far from convincing as Zimbabwe took two wickets in the opening two overs and were eventually bowled out in the 48th over.
Kane Williamson (35), Nathan McCullum (30) and Andrew Ellis (33) all made starts but could not dig in on a green-tinged pitch that offered plenty of movement.
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