KEY POINTS:
LONDON - New Zealand's last pair Kyle Mills and Mark Gillespie defied a huge moment of controversy to sneak a thrilling final-ball victory over England in the fourth one-day cricket international here today.
With two runs needed off the final delivery from Luke Wright, Gillespie hit to cover
and Graeme Swann narrowly missed his shy at the stumps with Gillespie well short at the bowler's end.
No one backed up, the ball flew clear and a jubilant Mills and Gillespie ran two for an unlikely one-wicket win after chasing down 246.
New Zealand now go to the last match at Lord's on Saturday leading the series 2-1.
New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori was visibly angry on the players' balcony six overs earlier when Grant Elliott was run out for 24 after colliding with bowler Ryan Sidebottom when attempting a short single.
Elliott was clearly injured and limped to the bowler's end well short of his ground when Kevin Pietersen broke the stumps.
He lay prone on the ground and received treatment, but England captain Paul Collingwood refused to call Elliott back - as he can do under the laws of cricket - and Elliott had to stagger off with New Zealand 220 for seven.
But Mills, after his highest one-day score of 47 in Bristol last Saturday, gave a cool-headed display to be 25 not out, including a six off Collingwood in the 49th over measured at 106m.
New Zealand needed three off the final over, Mills got a single off the first ball then Gillespie saw out four dot balls before the frantic final act.
Vettori apologised for his side's angry reaction from the balcony, and also spoke to Collingwood to make peace immediately following the match after the New Zealand team had originally shut the dressing room door on him.
"It would have been a different press conference if I'd come here on the losing side of things," Vettori said.
"We deserved to win but it would have been nice if we'd played out in the manner it should have been, then the game would have seen the right result, whichever way it went."
Collingwood admitted he made the wrong decision.
"I asked Sidebottom if he was going for the ball and he said he was, definitely," Collingwood said. "It was my decision as captain alone. It was a crucial time of the game and it was very tense out there.
"But the reaction of the crowd as well as the doubt in the back of my mind combined to make me know I'd made the wrong decision."
The tourists should have cruised in their chase but lost regular wickets.
There were loose shots from the top-order; key man Brendon McCullum facing just five balls when he drove at a wide one, Ross Taylor skying a cross-bat swipe on six and Daniel Flynn doing the same on 12 when he hit against Swann's offspin to reduce the tourists to 106 for four.
Scott Styris topscored with 69 but should have been gone without scoring.
Owais Shah dropped a comfortable chance at second slip off James Anderson, while Collingwood and Stuart Broad gave him further letoffs on 27 and 28.
New Zealand were cruising when Styris and Jacob Oram added a rapid 67 for the fifth wicket, before they lost three for 16 in 23 deliveries.
Oram hit 38 off 30 before being taking on Anderson and being caught on the square leg boundary, then Elliott turned villain when he called Styris through for a second run and Swann's throw to the far end beat him home.
New Zealand were in control after dismissing England for 245 with two balls remaining, capping another impressive bowling and fielding display on a bouncy pitch and fast outfield.
The previous two one-day first innings totals at The Oval were Sri Lanka's 319 for eight in 2006 and England's 316 for six last year.
Teenage paceman Tim Southee was again the golden arm for the tourists, taking three for 47, fresh from his match-turning four for 38 in the 22-run in the victory at Bristol.
He slammed the brakes on England's innings with the crucial wickets of Ian Bell, caught behind for 46, and Collingwood, who chopped on to his stumps on 14.
England helped New Zealand's cause with some poor shots, none worse than Kevin Pietersen who tried an ambitious hook at Gillespie and skied a simple catch off the second ball he faced.
Shah smashed two sixes in topscoring with 63 off 71 balls, before a long-range direct hit from Gillespie saw him run out by centimetres.
SCOREBOARD
England
I Bell c McCullum b Southee 46
L Wright c Taylor b Mills 18
K Pietersen c Southee b Gillespie 0
R Bopara c Oram b Gillespie 58
P Collingwood b Southee 14
O Shah run out 63
T Ambrose c Flynn b Oram 6
G Swann c How b Mills 3
S Broad c How b Southee 5
R Sidebottom not out 8
J Anderson run out 11
Extras (4lb, 6w, 3nb) 13
Total (49.4 overs) 245
Fall: 41 (Wright), 44 (Pietersen), 81 (Bell), 101 (Collingwood), 176 (Bopara), 203 (Ambrose), 219 (Swann), 221 (Shah), 228 (Broad), 245 (Anderson).
Bowling: K Mills 10-1-44-2 (1w, 1nb), M Gillespie 9.4-2-58-2 (2w, 2nb), T Southee 10-1-47-3 (1w), J Oram 10-0-46-1, D Vettori 8-1-34-0 (1w), G Elliott 2-0-12-0 (1w).
New Zealand
J How c and b Swann 37
B McCullum c Swann b Sidebottom 1
R Taylor c Broad b Sidebottom 6
S Styris run out 69
D Flynn c Bell b Swann 12
J Oram c sub b Anderson 38
G Elliott run out 24
D Vettori c Bopara b Collingwood 6
K Mills not out 25
T Southee run out 6
M Gillespie not out 4
Extras (4b, 3lb, 11w) 18
Total (for 9 wkts, 50 overs) 246
Fall: 7 (McCullum), 24 (Taylor), 83 (How), 106 (Flynn), 173 (Oram), 178 (Styris), 189 (Vettori), 220 (Elliott), 233 (Southee).
Bowling: R Sidebottom 10-0-55-2 (1w), J Anderson 10-0-39-1 (2w), S Broad 10-0-39-0 (2w), L Wright 2-0-8-0, G Swann 10-1-49-2 (5w), P Collingwood 7-0-40-1 (1w), R Bopara 1-0-9-0.
Result: New Zealand won by one wicket, lead five-match series 2-1.
- NZPA