New Zealand have begun the competition with two wins out of two

The White Ferns set a tough target by making 291-6 in their innings, with Sarah Tsukigawa hitting four sixes in an unbeaten 78 off 56 balls.

A stand of 82 in 14 overs between Claire Taylor (56) and Sarah Taylor (41) kept England in the hunt.

But although Charlotte Edwards weighed in with 82 off 93 balls, the pressure told and they were all out for 272.

"It's disappointing but there are huge number of positives to take out of the last couple of days," the England captain told BBC Sport.

"We nearly chased down 290 which would have been a really good effort, we fell short in the latter overs, but we're playing a lot of really good cricket.

"They got about 70 in the last five overs, their bottom order was just hitting sixes galore and it was really difficult to stop, we were a little bit disappointed.

"They should have been kept down to about 260, so those extra 30 runs did prove to be our undoing in the end."

New Zealand had a confident air after beating World Cup holders Australia in their opening game in Madras (Chennai) and were unperturbed when Edwards decided to put them in.

After Ebony Rainford-Brent had marked her England debut by having Suzie Bates caught behind, Maria Fahey (50) and Haidee Tiffen (58) added 71 for the second wicket.

Spinners Holly Colvin and Laura Newton picked up two wickets each but the England attack suffered in the final 10 overs as Tsukigawa and Nicola Browne set about them.

Between them, the pair cleared the rope on six occasions and also hit nine fours as 105 were added to the total.

It left England with a mountain to climb and it immediately looked even bigger when Caroline Atkins fell for a first ball duck, caught off Jhulan Goswami, as England began their run chase.

But the two Taylors were in excellent form, punishing anything loose in their third wicket partnership, before Sarah was run out and Claire was caught behind off Aimee Mason after reaching her 10th one-day fifty.

Edwards then took up the challenge and collected 13 fours in an excellent innings, during which she received solid support from Beth Morgan (20).

England had reached 256-5 when Edwards was lbw to Louise Milliken off the final ball of the 46th over and their hopes evaporated as the final three wickets went down in the space of six deliveries.

Opening bat Jaya Sharma was the star of the day's other game, carrying her bat for an unbeaten 104 as India defeated Australia by three wickets.

Spinner Preeti Dimri took 3-46 as the Southern Stars were restritced to 213-8 in their 50 overs despite 87 not out from Lisa Sthalekar.