England captain Stuart Broad admitted after his side's 55-run loss to New Zealand on Tuesday that he should have asked to bat first after winning the toss, instead of allowing the Black Caps to score a massive total.

The Kiwis made 192 for six, with the top order doing the bulk of the scoring, and the Englishmen never came close to reaching the target. They were all out for 137, and at one stage were 80 for seven. The loss allowed the series to be levelled at one all.

Broad admitted: "We probably should have batted first - I got that wrong. It was a disappointing performance throughout but Twenty20 can be like that. Things can go well one day and not so well the next.

"Credit to New Zealand, they played very well. At the halfway point we were still in with a chance but obviously losing early wickets you're chasing the game from there."

A stand-out player for England with the bat was Jos Buttler, who made 54 off 30 balls and could have made a real difference had there been more runs on the board when he came in, or if his partners had stuck around.

Broad added of the youngster: "He has hit a lovely run of form, standing still and striking the ball really cleanly. It's a shame we couldn't get a few more runs on the board (before Buttler came in).

"With these smaller grounds you can pretty much chase anything with enough wickets intact. It will be an exciting third game, both sides will be going hell for leather to win."

Black Caps skipper Brendon McCullum was clearly the more jaunty skipper, especially as he'd scored 74 of his side's runs, including five huge sixes. He was especially pleased with his side's determination after the first game loss.

McCullum said: "The other night was disappointing and England blew us off the park. I thought we played extremely well tonight - it was a much improved performance.

"It's nice to make a contribution, whether captain or not. It was good to play a hand today but so did the other guys and we're very happy with the performance."

On the series finale, he added: "There will be a great crowd and a great spectacle down at Wellington. We have to make sure we step up a gear."