England cruise home in ODI decider
England will be pleased with the way they cruised to a seven wicket win in the fifth and final ODI against New Zealand at Hagley Oval.
The Black Caps proved to be no match for the tourists with bat or ball as England hauled in the victory target of 224 with fully 104 balls remaining.
New Zealand’s top order, without their midweek hero Ross Taylor, folded with only Martin Guptill (47) making any contribution of note among the top five.
Henry Nicholls (55) and Mitchell Santner (67) were the chief reason New Zealand had anything at all to bowl at.
For England it was a team effort in the field but Chris Woakes (3/32) and Adil Rashid (3/42) were the pick of the bowlers.
Jonny Bairstow scored a second consecutive ODI hundred to blow the Kiwis out of the water early on.
Bairstow blazed his way to 104 and looked set to haul England past the victory target in no time at all until he was bizarrely out hit wicket to Trent Boult.
The opener had shared a 155 run stand with partner Alex Hales (61) and done the lion’s share of the work of hauling in the target.
Though England lost Hales and Eoin Morgan (8) along the way, Joe Root (23*) and Ben Stokes (26*) wasted no time in sealing a 3-2 series win for the tourists.
The series win is England’s second bilateral away series win in two attempts after their 4-1 triumph in Australia.
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