An abandoned match against South Africa stymied their momentum, but the hammerings of Sri Lanka, the West Indies and Pakistan revealed the batting pedigrees of captain Suzie Bates and Amy Satterthwaite (Sri Lanka), Rachel Priest (West Indies) and Sophie Devine (Pakistan) in comfortable chases.
They need to take those uncompromising recipes into their knock-out cricket.
Batting rather than bowling has been the main problem. England are the only side to score at more than five-runs-per-over against them, and even they were restricted early.
After the England defeat, Bates admonished herself and Satterthwaite (who became the ninth White Fern to reach a century of one-day international caps) for failing to anchor the chase. New Zealand were humming at 89 for one in the 20th over chasing 285 to win as a second-wicket stand of 75 prospered.
Then Bates went for 44, followed 10 runs later by Satterthwaite for 35.
"Amy and I would be the first to admit that once we got in and had a partnership, one of us had to score a big hundred. We got out to loose shots and not the right options on that wicket.
"We never got behind the run rate, it was just about wickets. We didn't have enough in hand towards the end.
"We started brilliantly with the ball. I could have tried a few more bowling changes but the leg spinners have been crucial for us and they potentially didn't bowl as well as they could've in their first spells. Then we were chasing the game."
After beating Australia, England reinforced their tournament "favourite" status by dismissing New Zealand for 209 in 46.4 overs.
A 170-run fourth-wicket partnership between Natalie Sciver (129 off 111 balls) and Tammy Beaumont (93 off 102 balls) dictated the result. The pair counterattacked to take the score from 52 for three in the 14th over to 222 for four in the 41st. Sciver benefitted from a Leigh Kasperek spill at short backward square leg on 58.
Leg spinner Amelia Kerr took four for 51 from nine overs, although the flight from Kasperek's off spin was promising early; she finished with two for 49 from 10 overs.
England left-arm orthodox Alex Hartley starred with three for 44 from 9.4 overs, including the wickets of Bates and Devine for eight.
"It was a good target by England, but if one of our top order had scored big then we thought it was gettable," Bates said.
"We've played some good cricket in this tournament, so it's not doom and gloom. It's a big game against India now."
England captain Heather Knight inadvertently touched on what New Zealand need against the top teams.
"It's lovely the batters are standing up and putting in big performances. You want your top five getting runs and it's a credit to the hard work they've put in over the last year."
The loss ended a streak of 15 successful chases by the White Ferns.
