Cricket: NZ set England 350 to win

Kane Williamson made 90 off 70 in the fourth New Zealand-England ODI at Nottingham.

Kane Williamson demonstrated what appeared to be batting hypnosis with 90 from 70 balls to take New Zealand to 349 for seven in the fourth one-day international against England at Nottingham.

The New Zealand No.3 passed 50 in 39 balls eking out his methodical brand. It was the 25th time he has passed the mark in 78 ODIs.

Williamson became the fifth fastest ODI batsman to record 3000 runs, completing the feat in 73 innings and, to put his effort in context, sits behind Hashim Amla (57), Sir Vivian Richards (69) and Gordon Greenidge and Gary Kirsten (72). The next fastest New Zealander to the mark is Martin Guptill who took 90 innings.

Williamson's technique made the innings look effortless. The supreme compliment is the complacency which creeps in with the expectation he will score such substantial runs every game. That's what happens when you average 47.37, the highest of any New Zealand batsman to have played 10 or more innings in the format. Glenn Turner's 47 is next.

Rain threatened but failed to steal the limelight from the visitors' top four who laid a platform of 217 for three by the 35th over when Ross Taylor was trapped lbw by Steve Finn for 42 off 55 balls.

Taylor and Williamson made their ninth century partnership in 37 ODI innings.

Earlier, Brendon McCullum (35 off 31) and Martin Guptill (53 from 66) put on 88 for the opening stand, pushing their average in 41 outings at the top to 40.64.

New Zealand's assault suffered a hiccup in the batting powerplay from overs 35-39. Taylor was out on the third ball leaving Mark Wood and Steve Finn to restrict the visitors to 23 runs, including 20 dot balls.

The pair's performance reflected in strong figures by modern ODI standards. Wood had one for 49 and Finn one for 51 from their allotment of overs. Their parsimony was juxtaposed by New Zealand's gluttony against David Willey (10-0-89-2) and Adil Rashid (8-0-75-1). Rashid went for 28 from the 48th over when Mitchell Santner took him for four sixes and a four on his way to a career-blossoming 44 from 19 balls. Grant Elliott finished with 55 from 52 balls after struggling to 20 off 33. Four boundaries off seven balls corrected his early difficulties.

England's highest chase in ODIs is 306 against Pakistan at Karachi in 2000. If they can't complete that, New Zealand will win their fourth consecutive ODI series and stay third in the rankings regardless of the final match's outcome at Durham.