England restored some belated respectability in their one-day cricket series against New Zealand by winning the third and final match by 34 runs at Trent Bridge, Nottingham.
Although New Zealand had clinched the series with victories at Lord's and the Rose Bowl, the win was a boost for England's morale before the Champions Trophy starting tonight.
The two sides meet again in the eight-nation 50-overs competition during the group stages in Cardiff on June 16th.
England owed their competitive total of 287 for six to Eoin Morgan and Jos Buttler who smashed 64 runs off the last three overs.
New Zealand made a bright start in pursuit of the victory target with Martin Guptill, who scored unbeaten centuries in the first two matches, racing to 38 at better than a run-a-ball with some firm, assured strokes.
Ross Taylor, the Black Caps' best batsman then contributed 71, his third half-century of the series, before he was caught on the leg-side boundary trying to hoist a third successive six.
But New Zealand kept losing wickets at key moments and were dismissed for 253 off 46.3 overs.
Captain Brendon McCullum says they were good for the majority of the game but there were two periods, Buttler's innings was world-class and to concede 76 off four overs, the other part was losing 4 for 20 through the middle.
England begin their Champions Trophy campaign against Australia on Saturday and New Zealand face Sri Lanka on Sunday.
