Following the recent trend, it was another lop-sided contest and New Zealand's goal may have to be reviewed to actually winning a match, rather than taking out the five-match series which moves to Birmingham on Wednesday.
Led by Kevin Pietersen's unbeaten 110 and a whirlwind 49 off 25 from Owais Shah, a confident England racked up 307 for five after being sent into bat.
They cracked 71 off the final five overs to pass 300 for just the third time against New Zealand.
Some accurate England bowling, led by paceman Stuart Broad and finished by four late wickets from captain Paul Collingwood, saw the tourists skittled for 193 off 42.5 overs.
"The last 10 overs, to give away something like 99 runs meant all the momentum was with them heading into the second innings," said captain Daniel Vettori.
"We talked about restricting them to under 270, but for them to get 40 more from that, in a lot of ways took the game away from us."
Brendon McCullum, playing as a batsman only, held the key to the run chase.
But the wheels fell off the innings as early as the first wicket, when McCullum was caught at cover after whacking 36 off 27 balls. His was the eventual top score.
The problems at No 3 continued when James Marshall scratched around for four off 25 balls while Jamie How, Ross Taylor and Scott Styris all got starts but hit soft catches.
When Styris departed for 18, caught at deep mid-wicket, it was 116 for five, and Daniel Flynn's quickfire 34 before a rough caught behind decision was the only other highlight.
Key allrounder Jacob Oram (hamstring) was sorely missed as New Zealand took in just five specialist bowlers -- including Tim Southee on debut -- and gloveman Gareth Hopkins to bolster the batting.
It all went wrong for New Zealand from the day's first ball, when Kyle Mills nicked out Ian Bell but was called for overstepping.
It cost New Zealand 46 runs before a Taylor direct hit accounted for Bell.
New Zealand delivered nearly two extra overs, six no-balls and five wides which cost 19 runs in all.
Still, the tourists were in the game with England 95 for three in the 24th, after Styris held a sharp return catch off Ravi Bopara.
It proved the high point of Styris' day as Pietersen and Collingwood went after him as he ended with one for 63 off eight overs.
The pair added 136 off 122 balls for the fourth wicket as Pietersen conjured two remarkable sixes off Styris.
Much like a baseball switch hitter, Pietersen turned left-hander mid-delivery and drilled the ball over the square leg and long-on boundaries. He hit eight fours and three sixes in his 112-ball innings.
Vettori's figures stood out, one for 38 off 10 as he removed Collingwood for 64 with his penultimate delivery.
Owais Shah, who'd averaged 25 from his 35 previous ODI's, then unleashed on Mills and Southee, with one six off Southee measured at 91m.
Vettori, who said Oram could be rushed back for Saturday's third match in Bristol, admitted more tough words would be spoken.
"It's another case of a frank discussion. A lot of things we wanted to do that we didn't, simple things like the extras, having wickets in hand for the last 10 overs.
"We need our top-five to stand up and score the majority of the runs and our bowlers to lift their their performance. Individuals will be pointed out, and if they don't lift it's not acceptable."
England
Ian Bell run out (Taylor) 46
Luke Wright c Vettori b Mason 11
Kevin Pietersen not out 110
Ravi Bopara c & b Styris 4
Paul Collingwood b Vettori 64
Owais Shah c How b Southee 49
Tim Ambrose not out 1
Extras: (3lb, 9w, 10nb) 22
TOTAL: (for five wickets) 307
Overs: 50.
Fall of wickets: 1-49, 2-84, 3-95, 4-231, 5-304.
Did not bat: Graeme Swann, Stuart Broad, Ryan Sidebottom, James Anderson.
Bowling: Kyle Mills 10-1-59-0 (1w, 6nb), Tim Southee 10-1-68-1 (2w, 4nb), Michael Mason 10-0-62-1, Daniel Vettori 10-0-38-1, Scott Styris 8-0-63-1, Ross Taylor 2-0-14-0 (6w).
New Zealand
Jamie How c Wright b Broad 20
Brendon McCullum c Bell b Broad 36
Jamie Marshall run out (Collingwood) 4
Ross Taylor c Sidebottom b Wright 20
Scott Styris c Anderson b Swann 18
Daniel Flynn c Ambrose b Swann 34
Gareth Hopkins c Bopara b Collingwood 25
Daniel Vettori c Anderson b Collingwood 8
Kyle Mills c Wright b Collingwood 7
Tim Southee c Bell b Collingwood 6
Michael Mason not out 0
Extras: (12lb, 3w) 15
TOTAL: (all out) 193
Overs: 42.5
Fall of wickets: 1-52, 2-61, 3-72, 4-101, 5-116, 6-165, 7-179, 8-180, 9-187, 10-193.
Bowling: James Anderson 8-0-45-0, Ryan Sidebottom 8-1-43-0 (1w), Stuart Broad 8-2-16-2, Graeme Swann 10-1-45-2 (1w), Luke Wright 6-0-17-1, Paul Collingwood 2.5-0-15-4 (1).
Result: England by 114 runs.
Toss: won by New Zealand.
Umpires: Steve Davies, Australia, and Nigel Llong, England.
