Photo GalleryKEY POINTS:
England have kept the one-day series against New Zealand alive tonight at Eden Park in Auckland, beating the Black Caps by six wickets.
Set a rain-adjusted 227 to win from 47 overs, England reached the total with 18 balls to spare.
Captain Paul Collingwood (70*) and Owais Shah (18*) got the visitors home with an unbeaten 80-run partnership but the victory was set up by a solid bowling performance and a 107 third-wicket partnership between Ian Bell (73) and Kevin Pietersen (42).
The Black Caps got themselves back into the match after skipper Daniel Vettori removed Bell and Pietersen in quick succession but wickets dried up after that and New Zealand will now have to try and wrap up the series in Napier on Wednesday.
FIRST INNINGS
An improved bowling performance and New Zealand's middle order frailties combined to give England a realistic chance of keeping the one-day cricket series alive at Eden Park in Auckland today.
England require 235 to prevent New Zealand taking an unassailable 3-0 lead after their seamers regrouped admirably from their mauling at the hands of Brendon McCullum and Jesse Ryder in Hamilton on Tuesday night.
Jacob Oram, who struck a superb 88 off 91 balls and skipper Daniel Vettori (42 off 35) were the only New Zealand batsmen to prosper.
The pair put on a brisk partnership of 74 for the seventh wicket at better than a run a ball.
Oram lost Vettori in the 42nd over but managed to hang in with the tail until the penultimate over when, after a quartet of boundaries and sixes, he was well caught by Ian Bell diving towards the stand at square leg.
After riding their luck at Seddon Park, McCullum and Ryder fizzled on a dead drop-in wicket after England captain Paul Collingwood invited New Zealand to set the target for the first time in the series.
England made their first inroad in the second over when McCullum (4) ballooned a cramped cut shot to Alastair Cook in the slips to give James Anderson his first wicket.
Jamie How managed 10 off 20 balls and when man of the moment Jesse Ryder swung an Anderson delivery straight to Dimitri Mascarenhas inside the square leg fence to depart for 23, New Zealand dropped into survival mode in the 12th over.
The experienced Scott Styris (3) succumbed soon after when Mascarenhas made a difficult chance at midwicket look easy and when an out of form Peter Fulton was bowled off his front pad for an unconvincing four from 25 balls, New Zealand appeared to be struggling to post a defendable score.
Fulton and Ross Taylor added 11 off 43 balls as England's bowlers settled on a nagging length, illustrating the difficulties New Zealand had getting the ball off the square.
Taylor (31) finally succeeded in breaking the shackles when he slog swept Mascarenhas over the mid wicket rope but his resistance was ended in an eventful 30th over which opened with Oram being denied a six because Pakistani umpire Asad Rauf was not in position when Collingwood delivered a dolly.
Rauf signalled dead ball as the ball landed over the rope, mystifying Oram who had survived a confident leg before wicket appeal when on five.
Taylor was not so fortunate three balls later when Collingwood had his shout upheld, leaving New Zealand at a parlous 95-6 before Oram and Vettori started their salvage mission.
Broad, who was smacked for 32 off three overs in Hamilton, was the pick of the English bowlers taking 3-42, 15 of which were plundered off his 10th over.
Collingwood chimed in with 3-43 off nine while James Anderson, another casualty at Seddon Park, took 2-41.
Mascarenhas, who predictably replaced fellow allrounder Ravi Bopara, had 55 taken off his seven overs - including four sixes.
SCOREBOARD
New Zealand
J Ryder c Mascarenhas b Anderson 23
B McCullum c Cook b Anderson 4
J How c Collingwood b Broad 10
R Taylor lbw b Collingwood 31
S Styris c Mascarenhas b Broad 3
P Fulton b Collingwood 4
J Oram c Bell b Sidebottom 88
D Vettori c Shah b Collingwood 42
K Mills c Cook b Broad 8
P Hitchcock not out 11
C Martin not out 2
Extras (4lb, 2w, 2nb) 8
Total (for 9 wkts, 50 overs) 234
Fall: 7 (McCullum), 40 (How), 40 (Ryder), 53 (Styris), 64 (Fulton), 95 (Taylor), 169 (Vettori), 199 (Mills), 223 (Oram)
Bowling: R Sidebottom 10-0-37-1 (1nb, 1w), J Anderson 10-1-41-2, S Broad 10-1-32-3, P Collingwood 9-0-43-3, D Mascarenhas 7-0-55-0 (1nb, 1w), L Wright 4-0-22-0
England
A Cook c Martin b Oram 9
P Mustard run out (Vettori) 15
I Bell lbw b Vettori 73
K Pietersen lbw b Vettori 41
P Collingwood not out 70
O Shah not out 18
Extras (2w, 1nb) 3
Total (for 4 wkts, 44 overs) 2 29
Fall: 18 (Mustard), 31 (Cook), 138 (Bell), 149 (Pietersen)
Bowling: K Mills 10-1-54-0 (1w), C Martin 7-0-45-0, J Oram 9-1-45-1, P Hitchcock 7-0-56-0 (1w, 1nb), D Vettori 10-1-23-2, S Styris 1-0-6-0
Result: England win by 6 wickets
New Zealand lead five-match series 2-1
- NZ HERALD STAFF, NZPA
