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So pre-tour expectations were borne out; New Zealand were superior in the ODI series, and England prevailed in the test rubber.
But New Zealand will look back with deep frustration at what could have been.
Two sessions did for them in the final two tests.
Without those match-deciding two-hour blocks, New Zealand might well have at least squared the three-test series.
Instead England triumphed 2-1 - and deserved it.
In the second test at the Basin Reserve, the third session on day one - during which England, through Tim Ambrose and Paul Collingwood, recovered from 136 for five to reach 300 before the next wicket fell on a testing pitch - decisively shifted the momentum away from New Zealand.
Then at McLean Park a horror second session on Easter Sunday, when they lost nine for 65 in their second innings, cost them the test and the series.
Take those two periods out and there was not much between the teams. However, ifs and buts don't count and England will leave delighted at winning their first series away from home since beating South Africa in 2004-05.
Their batsmen, after an ordinary start in the first test at Hamilton, came good when it mattered.
Four of their top six - Ian Bell, Kevin Pietersen, Andrew Strauss and Paul Collingwood - averaged over 40. Others chipped in with important contributions.
By contrast, New Zealand had three batsmen average over 45, Ross Taylor with an excellent 51.66, Stephen Fleming and Daniel Vettori.
But below that, the batting was poor. Four scores over 50 from the combined efforts of Jamie How, Matthew Bell, Mathew Sinclair, Jacob Oram, Grant Elliott and Brendon McCullum is simply not good enough.
England had the outstanding bowler in left armer Ryan Sidebottom, who finished with 24 wickets from the series, figures bettered in New Zealand in a three-test series only by Pakistani great Wasim Akram. By the time the third test arrived, there were hints of a swing towards the visitors. Injuries to Oram and Kyle Mills removed key elements from the New Zealand attack and when England cashed in on the third day with their best collective batting display of the tour, the die was cast.
It was an entertaining series between two teams of roughly equal ability, which is not to say it was a series of high-class international cricket. There were too many periods of mediocre play for that.
Two pats on the back: England's touring support. They enlivened the series, and were generous in their praise for New Zealand, notably Stephen Fleming's Tuesday farewell.
And secondly, to New Zealand Cricket for scheduling the three tests at the country's most appropriate venues. A smart move, the settings and atmosphere were just right.
Throw in Dunedin's University Oval, and with Eden Park's outer oval in line for tests within maybe three years, both with similarly pictorial settings, test cricket has moved emphatically away from the concrete jungles. And a good thing too.
