Nottingham England Jun 6: Ian Bell struck 82 and Jos Buttler powered a belligerent 47 not out off just 16 balls to help England to a 34-run victory over New Zealand in the third and final match in their one-day series on Wednesday.
Batting first after losing the toss, England's late surge took the hosts to a solid 287-6. New Zealand made a promising start before losing a run of wickets and finished up all out for 253 in 46.3 overs, despite an inspired 71 from Ross Taylor.
With New Zealand looking to complete a 3-0 whitewash ahead of the forthcoming Champions Trophy, its attack was smashed to all corners of Trent Bridge with some crowd-pleasing big hitting by Buttler and Eoin Morgan (49) late in the innings.
Opener Bell's knock came off just 96 balls as England finally found some form with the bat after being outplayed by the tourists in defeats at Lord's and Southampton.
Paceman Mitchell McClenaghan had New Zealand's best figures of 3-54 off his 10 overs, his first wicket being England captain Alastair Cook for a duck.
The Kiwis faced a significant run chase and once Martin Guptill was second out, a classic off-spin dismissal bowled through the gate by James Tredwell, England looked to be the favorites.
Colin Munro was caught-behind off Tim Bresnan first ball and Tredwell returned to have Brendon McCullum edging an attempted cut to Buttler.
At 111 for five, New Zealand's batting resources were already compromised, and although Taylor refused to give up, he could not quite take the contest to the wire.
