Captain Eoin Morgan admitted England were simply unable to cope with the swinging ball after New Zealand exposed grave fears over their World Cup hopes in Wellington.

England were whipped out for 123 as Tim Southee produced a vintage display of swing bowling to return seven for 33 — the best figures by a New Zealand bowler in one-day internationals.

The Black Caps then raced to the target in just 12.2 overs, on the back of Brendon McCullum’s whirlwind 77 from 25 balls.

“Credit goes to them. It was probably the best bowling display we’ve come across since we’ve been down this side of the world, which says a lot because we’ve played against Australia,” Morgan said.

“Today we couldn’t cope with it.”

England lost their last seven wickets for just 19 runs to post their lowest ever total at a World Cup on foreign soil. Their capitulation came after Morgan had won the toss and elected to bat under a cloudless sky.

“With the benefit of hindsight I wouldn’t have won the toss and batted,” he said.

“If I had of known it was going to swing for that long, we batted for 35 overs, and it swung throughout.

“The only thing that occurred to me this morning was that there wasn’t a cloud in the sky and it hadn’t rained here for a while. If it looks like it’s going to swing obviously I have no worries in bowling first because that’s our biggest strength. In the first 10 overs if we can take three or four wickets we’re right in the game.

“Everything about today said bat and I got it wrong.”

England have now suffered two wide-margin defeats to start their World Cup after they were swept aside by Australia by 111 runs at the MCG last Saturday.

“These first two games we said were going to be difficult games playing against the two favourites in their home conditions but we shouldn’t be beaten by this amount,” Morgan said.

“There’s no way. Maybe today we were out-skilled but certainly the first game we played against Australia we were way below par.”

Meanwhile in Whangarei, England’s women lost — by a much reduced margin — in their second Twenty20 international against the Black Caps.

England managed 122-5 after all 20 overs, while New Zealand closed on 124-4 after 19.2, levelling the series at 1-1.

England’s Lauren Winfield put up an impressive 48, and Heather Knight had an impressive spell hitting 30 off 15 deliveries late on.

But it wasn’t enough to hold off the hosts, with Rachel Priest making 41, Suzie Bates 33 and Sophie Devine 29.

The series’s decider will be held in Lincoln, New Zealand, on Tuesday.