England's Joe Root, left, celebrates with Ben Stokes after England beat New Zealand by seven wickets during the fourth One Day International match. Photo / AP.
New Zealand's aggressive style has helped rejuvenate England's one-day international performances but, with the series locked at 2-2 heading into Saturday's decider at Durham, there is a threat that mimicry may extend to triumph.
A win in the fifth match would secure a fourth successive series victory for New Zealand
but an England batting juggernaut, in which no batsman score at less than a run a ball in Nottingham, stands in their way.
The visitors could point to a couple of areas for improvement but, in essence, the hosts never looked like losing, even after 349 for seven was posted.
"Wickets have been tough to come by throughout the series," New Zealand all-rounder Grant Elliott said. "But that Morgan-Root [198-run] partnership took the game away. As a bowling unit we struggled to find the right lengths; it might have skidded on a touch better in the second innings, but they were class innings. There weren't too many opportunities and the catching was poor from both teams."
New Zealand's assault suffered a hiccup from overs 35-39 in the batting powerplay. Ross Taylor was out on the third ball for 42 off 55 balls, leaving Mark Wood and Steve Finn to restrict Elliott and Kane Williamson to 23 runs, including 20 dot balls.
The bowling pair produced strong figures by modern standards. Wood had one for 49 and Finn one for 51 from their allotment.
"With 350 for England to chase, I thought we had a good chance," Elliott said. "Finn and Wood bowled well but we knew we could score runs in the final 10 overs.
"I'm gutted I didn't get Kane on strike as much as I should have, but tried to make up for that with Mitchell Santner, who batted beautifully."
Santner and Elliott put on 71 for the sixth-wicket from 30 balls. Santner made 44 from 19 balls and Elliott was left not out on 55 from 52.
Elliott said personnel changes to both teams have tipped the form scale since New Zealand's World Cup victory.
"They've put more aggressive players in, so I'm not surprised," Elliott said. "We don't have Dan Vettori, Corey Anderson and now Trent Boult, so we're trying to find new combinations but it's a great opportunity for guys light on experience to step up."
