1st ODI
England 284/8 (50 ov)
New Zealand 287/7 (49.2/50 ov)
New Zealand won by 3 wickets (with 4 balls remaining)
Ben Stokes scored 12 and took 2-43 as his first England match for five months ended in a three-wicket defeat by New Zealand in Hamilton.
Ross Taylor made 113 and Tom Latham 79 as New Zealand recovered from 27-3 in the first match of the one-day series.
Mitchell Santner hit 45 not out off 27 balls, including a six to seal victory with four balls to spare.
Joe Root, rested for the Twenty20 tri-series, made 71 and Jos Buttler 79 in England's 284-8 at Seddon Park.
With 34 needed off 18 balls and Taylor having been stumped off Adil Rashid, New Zealand's hopes were fading.
But Santner reduced that equation to nine off the final six balls, before edging a Chris Woakes yorker for four and smashing a six over mid-wicket after a wide.
All-rounder Stokes appeared in court this month on a charge of affray and the first hearing of his trial is scheduled for 12 March at Bristol Crown Court, although he is not required to return to the UK to attend it.
He missed the Ashes defeat in Australia, the one-day series win over Australia and the T20 series also involving New Zealand, in which England failed to qualify for the final.
2nd ODI
New Zealand 223 (49.4/50 ov)
England 225/4 (37.5/50 ov)
England won by 6 wickets (with 73 balls remaining)
Ben Stokes' 63 not out backed up an excellent fielding performance as England beat New Zealand by six wickets to level the one-day series at 1-1.
England took three fine catches and claimed four run-outs to dismiss the hosts for 223 in Tauranga.
In reply, the tourists lost two early wickets but Stokes put on 88 with captain Eoin Morgan, who scored 62.
Jos Buttler made an unbeaten 36 off 20 balls as he and Stokes sealed victory with 12.1 overs to spare.
All-rounder Stokes, playing his second match after five months out of the side following an incident outside a Bristol nightclub, was named man of the match after also taking two wickets and being involved in two run-outs.
3rd ODI
England 234 (50 ov)
New Zealand 230/8 (50 ov)
England won by 4 runs
England have won an ODI at the Westpac, but it was a desperately close-run thing. After five failed attempts, most of them involving plenty of heartache, they all but succumbed to a sixth thanks to a wonderful century from Kane Williamson, which reignited New Zealand's run-chase after their middle order had collapsed to Adil Rashid and Moeen Ali.
Williamson and the in-form Mitchell Santner revived the chase with a stand of 96 in 21 overs after New Zealand lost 5 for 23 to tumble from a rock-solid 80 for 1 to 103 for 6. They entered the last five overs needing 36 but, in a crucial intervention, Chris Woakes got his fingertips on a straight drive from Williamson, sending the ball into the non-striker's stumps with Santner short.
The arrival of a new batsman gave England renewed intent. Tim Southee wasn't allowed to settle before pulled to deep square leg and though Williamson reached his century of 133 balls, 15 off the final over proved tantalisingly out of reach. With 13 required from four, Williamson pulled Woakes over the leg side for a huge six, but Woakes then adjusted his length, went full, and refused to give up any more boundaries - Williamson picked out mid-off against a full toss with the penultimate delivery, then swung and missed at the last ball.
The pitches at this ground have been a talking point all season. Trent Boult's first ball of the match disturbed the surface, some deliveries climbed from a length, others squatted and there was considerable turn. It did, though, produce an absorbing finish.
England battled to reach 234, bowled out off the final ball of the innings, and it was spin that put them back on top. Woakes had removed Martin Guptill early, chipping a catch to mid-on as driving continued to be difficult, but Colin Munro - living a charmed life - and Williamson took New Zealand to 80 for 1 in the 18th over.
Rashid broke through in his second over, a googly encouraging Munro to chip towards cover where Ben Stokes sprang to his left to hold a superb mid-air catch. Then it was over to Moeen. His first delivery was a huge full toss deposited over midwicket by Williamson, but he soon settled. A skittish Mark Chapman played a poor stroke to find point and Tom Latham was lbw first ball after England correctly called for a review.
In Rashid's next over, Henry Nicholls' poor series continued when he was completely flummoxed by Rashid's leg-break and used up New Zealand's review in the process - though he hadn't nicked the ball that ended up at slip, he had been struck plumb in front. When consolidation was required to try and get the innings back on track, Colin de Grandhomme lost his senses and lofted Moeen to long-on. It was poor batting, and highlighted the hole left by Ross Taylor's absence through injury.
The match was almost sealed in the 28th over when Santner flicked a low full toss towards Roy at midwicket, who dived forward but wasn't sure he had taken it cleanly. It went upstairs, with the soft signal of not out, and the replays showed enough doubt for Santner to survive.
From there, Williamson and Santner calmly went about their work, seeing out the spinners, although Santner may have been caught at slip on 10 if one had been placed. Moeen bowled his ten on the bounce and Rashid returned late when Eoin Morgan was hunting for a breakthrough. In the end they needed a touch of fortune from Woakes' fingertips.
England reined in their attacking instincts with the bat and ultimately were rewarded for not having aimed too high, although they could have reached 250. They did not score more than 39 in a 10-over block until the 30-40 segment of the innings. The beginning of the Eoin Morgan-Ben Stokes stand brought 13 runs from 46 balls in a period of rare comatose batting from his team, yet their eventual tally of 71 gave the innings a base.
On the ground where he skittled England with 7 for 33 at the 2015 World Cup, Southee was soon operating with three slips. He swung the ball nicely but this time there were no early scalps for him. Instead, the opening breakthrough went to Boult when Jason Roy edged a lifting delivery, which disturbed the surface, to the lone slip.
Joe Root, as he does so often, timed the ball sweetly from the off and was starting to dominate with back-to-back sweeps off Santner when he tried to club de Grandhomme through the leg side and miscued to mid-on. Jonny Bairstow was then comprehensively defeated by a googly - although more by the drift than the spin - from Ish Sodhi, who had been included ahead of Lockie Ferguson, to leave England 68 for 3 in the 17th over.
De Grandhomme was miserly with his medium-pace dobbers and Williamson would also utilise Munro for eight overs instead of returning to Santner who bowled just two in the innings. The shackles were briefly broken by Morgan when he slog-swept Sodhi for six, but after the 25th over went for 11 the next three brought the same amount and he later clumped Munro down the ground as Stokes continued to battle in a manner rarely seen in any format. Finally, off his 53rd ball, Stokes found the boundary when he sent Boult over the off side.
The partnership was broken on the stroke of drinks when Southee speared one through Morgan's defences then Stokes, eyeing an acceleration at the start of the last 10 overs, picked out long-off against Sodhi, where Munro took a well-judged catch. Stokes' final tally of 39 off 73 balls was very reminiscent of his laboured innings in Cardiff during the Champions Trophy semi-final where he made 34 off 64 balls without a boundary.
Jos Buttler had briefly threatened something special when he took Sodhi for consecutive boundaries then played a wonderful, skimming drive over cover for six but Sodhi struck back with the penultimate ball of his spell when Buttler thin-edged another drive. The last four wickets fell for 19, but in the end England had just enough. Spare a thought for Williamson though.
4th ODI
England 335/9 (50/50 ov);
New Zealand 339/5 (49.3/50 ov)
New Zealand won by 5 wickets (with 3 balls remaining)
New Zealand took a gripping series to a decider as Ross Taylor produced one of the greatest one-day innings in staging a magnificent chase in Dunedin to hunt down an imposing 336. What made Taylor's career-best unbeaten 181 from 147 balls even more remarkable was that the latter part was played after he injured himself diving to make a second run shortly after reaching three figures.
Incredibly, New Zealand got home with three balls to spare when Henry Nicholls swung Tom Curran over the leg side after Colin de Grandhomme hammered 23 off 11 balls to help take the pressure off a limping Taylor. However, in fading light, it was Taylor that did most of the finishing as he took a six and a four in the space of three balls against Chris Woakes in the 47th over, then took him over midwicket again at the start of the 49th to remove any doubt. New Zealand still haven't lost at this ground. After today, they may feel they never will.
It was another wonderfully absorbing contest between these teams, back to the high-scoring variety seen in 2015 in England. Centuries from Jonny Bairstow and Joe Root were the centrepiece of England's innings, but they suffered a middle-order meltdown as they lost 8 for 46 to slump from 267 for 1 to 313 for 9. Still, it was the second-highest total on the ground - it would become England's second-highest first-innings in defeat.
Taylor combined with Tom Latham - the same pair that did so much to win the opening match of the series - to add 187 in 25.5 overs for the fourth wicket as New Zealand recovered from 2 for 2, and then the loss of Kane Williamson when replays showed he hadn't edged the ball.
Taylor, who gave one chance on 84 when Bairstow couldn't gather a catch at deep midwicket, brought up his 19th ODI century from 98 balls, but shortly after, on 109, suffered an injury when making his ground for a scampered second. He was patched up by the physio - who made multiple trips to the middle - and hauled himself between the wickets, but largely opted to have a swing. He sent both Ben Stokes and Adil Rashid out of the ground, taking his sixes tally to six, with the fifth of them landing on the roof of a building adjacent to the sightscreen.
Latham played superbly in support, having arrived when Williamson was given caught behind pulling at Stokes' first delivery. Colin Munro had earlier reviewed a stone-dead lbw first ball against Mark Wood, so the New Zealand captain had no recourse. When the asking rate touched nine-an-over, Latham took two sixes in three balls off Wood and Stokes. He might have been lbw twice, once to Moeen Ali and once to Adil Rashid, but was so far down the pitch on both occasions that the umpires were perfectly in their right to say not out
Latham fell to Tom Curran's slower-ball, finding mid-off with 63 needed from 48 balls. De Grandhomme was promoted and struck his first two balls for four, followed by two sixes off Curran in the 44th over to firmly swing things New Zealand's way. Woakes went for just three off the 45th and Curran then removed de Grandhomme, but there would be no denying Taylor.
England will wonder how they have not wrapped up the series. When Bairstow and Root were together adding 190 in 27.2 overs, they were on course to challenge 400. But Bairstow's dismissal to Munro sparked a horrendous collapse, as Ish Sodhi bagged a career-best 4 for 58. After the top three, the next batsmen to reach double figures were Rashid and Curran at Nos. 9 and 10.
England had raced out of the blocks, reaching 77 off the 10-over Powerplay against some inconsistent bowling and fallible fielding. Sodhi broke through with his second ball, Roy top-edging to short fine leg, but that just set the stage for Bairstow and Roy.
Bairstow reached his third ODI century - all made as an opener - from 83 deliveries while Root reached his from 99 balls, although that came in the midst of England's late slump. For Root, it was his first century in 26 international innings - in which time he has passed fifty on 12 occasions - while for Bairstow it broke a sequence against Australia and New Zealand where had missed the chance to convert a few starts.
Such was the way Bairstow, given a life on 74 by Mitchell Santner at cover, was progressing, that Roy's England record 180 - made against Australia in Melbourne - was in danger. Yet things were about to change very quickly. Bairstow skied an off-cutter and Jos Buttler's promotion to No. 4 lasted two balls when he chipped a catch back to Sodhi.
There was no thought of momentary consolidation with Eoin Morgan hoisting Trent Boult into the leg side. New Zealand's fielding suddenly went up a notch with Munro taking an excellent catch running back. Stokes then picked out deep square leg and Moeen lofted down the ground where Tim Southee made excellent ground running in to take the ball by his bootlaces.
When Woakes chipped Munro to long-on, Root was in danger of running out of partners before his century. He, too, fell before the end and it was left to Curran to offer any semblance of a finish as he took 18 off the last over. The days of 336 being virtually unchasable are long gone. Still, this was remarkable.
5th ODI
New Zealand 223 (49.5/50 ov);
England 229/3 (32.4/50 ov)
England won by 7 wickets (with 104 balls remaining)
After the drama in Dunedin this was a canter in Christchurch. England surged to a seven-wicket victory with 17.2 overs to spare to secure their sixth one-day series win a row. Jonny Bairstow made mincemeat of the chase with a 58-ball century, England's third-fastest and his second in consecutive innings, adding 155 in 20.2 overs for the first wicket alongside the recalled Alex Hales.
The absence of Ross Taylor, who was ruled out on the morning of the game with the quad injury he sustained during his unbeaten 181, was too much for New Zealand to compensate for, especially with their captain Kane Williamson failing.
England's new ball pair, Chris Woakes and Mark Wood, set a superb tone and it was backed up by the spin duo of Adil Rashid and Moeen Ali. At 93 for 6 it looked as though New Zealand could fold completely, but Mitchell Santner's outstanding series with the bat continued and a stand of 84 with Henry Nicholls at least took them over 200. Although the mood England's top-order are in, 400 may not have been enough.
There was barely an alarm for England as they knocked off the runs in the sunshine. They have been tested more in this series than many of late, and have slipped occasionally, but such a comprehensive win in a decider is a feather in their cap.
Bairstow and Hales, who was handed a late opportunity in the series when Jason Roy went down with a back spasm, were level-pegging for the first eight overs of the chase, then Bairstow pulled away at top speed. He took 16 off Colin de Grandhomme's third over, went to fifty from 38 balls and then really cut loose. He hammered five sixes in eight balls against Ish Sodhi with crisp, clean striking - although none of them were taken in the crowd to win a fan 50,000 dollars.
Bairstow moved to 99 with a pull behind square then dabbed a single to third man to sit behind Jos Buttler (46 balls) and Moeen Ali (53 balls) in England's quickest centuries before smashing his own stumps trying to manufacture some width against Trent Boult. He has now made four in 16 innings as an opener and has the spot nailed down, although who his long-term partner will be is perhaps more of a debate.
Roy's injury gave Hales his first outing since announcing he would become a white-ball specialist. Although the pressure was never on in the chase, it was a good effort to play so confidently having not batted for three weeks. He went to his fifty from 67 balls but was then cut off by a fine catch from Williamson at midwicket. By then, however, the result was a formality. There was just time for Ben Stokes to finish the chase in style in the city of his birth.
It is the third time in a year that New Zealand have lost a deciding ODI following reversals against South Africa at home and India away. As against South Africa at Eden Park a year ago, this was a very poor performance with everything to play for.
England were able to take their preferred route when Eoin Morgan won the toss. There was a little early movement and his decision was backed up by fine opening spells from Woakes and Wood.
Colin Munro had announced in the build-up that he would no longer play first-class cricket and his first day as an official white-ball specialist did not start well when he got a big a top edge against Woakes while trying to work into the leg side. Other than his 49 in Wellington, it has been a single-digit series for Munro with scores of 6, 1, 0 and 0.
Woakes has produced outstanding first spells throughout: 5-0-14-2, 5-1-18-2, 5-1-13-1, 5-2-14-1 and 6-1-13-1, Morgan giving him the extra over here after Williamson departed in the 10th. It was a smart piece of bowling from Wood to dismiss the New Zealand captain, delivered from wider on the crease and cramping him for room, taking a bottom edge into leg stump.
Then, not for the first time, New Zealand stumbled against England's spinners. Tom Latham, promoted to No. 4 ahead of Taylor's replacement, Mark Chapman, fell to a soft shot, chipping Rashid to midwicket although it was a nicely flighted delivery which brought the error. Chapman's stay was very brief. He played back to a delivery from Moeen Ali which straightened a touch but Chapman missed it by an alarming amount to be bowled.
When Stokes held a stinging, low catch at cover to remove Martin Guptill and de Grandhomme wastefully lofted to long-on, New Zealand were in a hole. Morgan's tactics were interesting. Having bowled both Rashid and Moeen straight through their 10 overs, the innings was deep with very little of the fifth bowler used. Joe Root was then introduced for two overs and Tom Curran did not get his first bowl until the 40th over and was used for six consecutive overs at the death.
Nicholls' fifty came from 73 balls before he skied a Curran slower ball into the off side. Santner was by far the more fluent, bringing up a 60-ball half-century and setting a new career-best for the second time in four matches before Woakes became the first England bowler to dismiss him in the series when Hales made excellent ground at deep midwicket. But if that was good, Bairstow's grab, running around the leg-side boundary two balls later, taking it one-handed moving at full pace to remove Tim Southee, was something special. Bairstow, though, wasn't finished there.
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