Johannesburg, Sept. 29: England were given a rude wake-up call when New Zealand torpedoed their batting under cloudy skies at the Wanderers here on Tuesday, sending seven of Andrew Strauss’ men back to the pavilion before the total had even reached three figures.

Opting to bowl first, Daniel Vettori saw his attack strike immediately when Strauss feathered an edge from Kyle Mills to Brendon McCullum behind the stumps without a run on the board.

England were eventually bowled out for 146 in the 44th over, leaving New Zealand the clear-cut task of either pipping Sri Lanka to second place in the group, or better still, topping the pool.

The domination Mills and Shane Bond exerted in nippy conditions — reminiscent of those back home — left the England batsmen hypnotised. Had it not been for a fighting 40 from Paul Collingwood, England would have been in even deeper strife.

Collingwood (40, 58b, 2x4, 3x6) counter-attacked with Eoin Morgan — destroyer of South Africa’s hopes on Sunday — holding one end up.

Thereafter Ravi Bopara, fighting a crisis of confidence himself — dished out a dogged 30 (51b, 2x4) with a last-wicket partnership of 29 between Ryan Sidebottom (20, 41b, 3x4) and James Anderson (4 not out) giving England’s total a semblance of respectability.

Grant Elliott returned career-best figures of 4/31 on the day behind the 3/21 from Bond and Mills’ 1/19. Vettori had the luxury of waiting till the 40-over mark before bringing himself on and he had bowled just seven balls before the England innings folded up when he had Sidebottom caught behind.

McCullum had a good day behind the sticks with four dismissals.

New Zealand now need to score more than 139 runs to finish ahead of Sri Lanka in second place in Group B or get the 147 runs needed for an outright win to top the pool ahead of England.

Scores: England 146 in 43.1 overs (Collingwood 40, Bopara 30; Elliot 4/31, Bond 3/21) vs New Zealand