Seamers Michael Mason and Iain O'Brien grabbed three wickets each to steer New Zealand to a 92-run win over Essex on the fourth and final day of their match in Chelmsford this morning.
The performance of Mason (3 wickets for 36 runs) and O'Brien (3-54) will have givenNew Zealand a boost ahead of their match against England A starting on Friday (NZT) as they will be without skipper Daniel Vettori who is nursing a finger injury.
Set 293 to win, Essex faltered to 200 all out, with England opener Alastair Cook top-scoring with 57.
Cook, after being dropped on nought yesterday by Ross Taylor in the slips, however, pottered along with Tom Westley today without great intent.
New Zealand's attack struggled to find their line early on, failing to make the batsmen play by bowling too wide.
But their patience paid off - Kyle Mills had Westley caught at cover, and Ravi Bopara and Mark Pettini fell within an over of each other.
Bopara gave wicketkeeper Brendon McCullum a regulation catch off Jacob Oram while Pettini was clean bowled by Mason to leave Essex struggling on 87-4.
Once Cook fell - followed two balls later by James Foster for a duck - Essex still required a further 193 to win.
Ryan ten Doeschate fought a rearguard action for his 38 but wickets continued to fall at the other end.
O'Brien wrapped up a convincing win by bowling Alex Tudor in the 71st over.
"We didn't get up mentally and we didn't' really hit the deck so we gave them a good start last night," Mason said.
"We had to go a bit harder today and I think that's what we done."
