Bairstow Leads England to Series Win

Chester-le-Street: England chased down a revised target of 192 from 26 overs to beat New Zealand by three wickets and win the decisive match of the five-game one-day series.

The Kiwis posted a total of 283-9 from their 50 overs, with Martin Guptill and Kane Williamson making half-centuries.

Rain in the interval restricted England's innings, and they quickly stumbled to 45-5.

But Jonny Bairstow's unbeaten 85 led the hosts to a victory over the World Cup runners-up with an over to spare.

England need to chase a revised target of 192 runs from 26 overs to win after persisting rain delayed the start of hosts' chase.

New Zealand posted lowest total of the series as they had set a 284-run target for England, thanks to Martin Guptill and Kane Williamson's second wicket partnership and late flourish by Ben Wheeler.

Put in to bat first, the visitors dealt an early blow in the very first over as captain Brendon McCullum trudged back to the pavilion after being bowled out by Steven Finn for mere six runs.

However, Guptill (67) and Williamson (50) brought stability to their innings as the duo assembled 94 runs for the second wicket before the dismissal of the latter.

Although Ross Taylor (47) and Grant Elliott (35) tried to bring in some momentum to their innings, New Zealand found themselves reeling at 219-7 in the 44th over after both batsmen's respective dismissals.

Mitchell Santer and Luke Ronchi failed to contribute anything substantially as both were dismissed for two runs each.

Subsequently, Wheeler smacked a quick-fire 39 off 28 balls to help his side post a respectable total.

Ben Stokes was the pick of the bowlers for the hosts as he claimed three wickets, while Adil Rashid, Finn and David Willey took two wickets each.

The sides now meet again on Tuesday in a Twenty20 international at Old Trafford, which is England's final outing before the first Ashes Test in Cardiff on 8 July,

Brief scores
New Zealand - 283/9 (Guptill 67, Williamson 50, Stokes 3-52)
England - 192/7 (25/26 ov, target 192) (Bairstow 83*, Santner 3-31)
Result - England won by 3 wickets