England beat New Zealand to end home summer undefeated

Fifth T20, Lord's

England 155-7 (20 overs): Knight 46* (31); Jonas 4-22

New Zealand 135-8 (20 overs): A Kerr 43 (36); Bell 3-20

England won by 20 runs; win series 5-0

Scorecard

England ended their home summer unbeaten with a comfortable 20-run win over a struggling New Zealand at Lord's.

Set 156 to win, the White Ferns' batting woes - which have plagued them throughout the series - continued as they could only manage 135-8.

Lauren Bell led England's attack with 3-20, while fellow seamer Freya Kemp and spinner Charlie Dean took two wickets apiece in a fine all-round display.

The win secures a 5-0 clean sweep for England, and was preceded by a dominant 3-0 one-day international series win.

Earlier, the visitors put in their best performance in the field, reducing England to 61-4, but could not capitalise as captain Heather Knight's unbeaten 46 took the game away.

Fran Jonas shone with 4-22, including the wicket of Danni Wyatt from the first ball of the innings and a stunning caught and bowled to remove Nat Sciver-Brunt for 16, while fellow spinner Eden Carson took 2-35.

But the regular wickets were interspersed with inconsistency, particularly from the few overs of pace, which relieved all pressure on England and still allowed them to set New Zealand what would have been their highest score of the T20 series.

It was an ambitious target for a batting line-up so low on confidence, with Amelia Kerr's 43 the highest score followed by the familiar trend of a middle-order stumble as five wickets fell for just 27 runs.

It is the first time England have won 13 matches in a home summer, their previous record being 12, as they thoroughly outplayed both Pakistan and New Zealand in both white-ball formats.

After The Hundred, which starts on 23 July, Knight's side travel to Ireland for three one-day internationals and three T20s in September, their final matches before the World Cup, which takes place in Bangladesh in the autumn.

England finish dominant summer in style

Only a washout against Pakistan in May stood between England winning every single game of the summer as they look full of confidence leading into the World Cup, but it is also fair to say they have not been challenged in either series.

That New Zealand’s most competitive performance still ended in a comprehensive defeat speaks volumes.

They did manage to somewhat silence the healthy Lord's crowd, including a sold-out pavilion, when Wyatt holed out to mid-wicket first ball and several soft dismissals fell to the spinners.

Maia Bouchier chipped to mid-on for 13, Sciver-Brunt was victim to a sensational one-handed caught and bowled, Alice Capsey was tamely stumped for 25 and Amy Jones was caught at long-on.

But Knight stood firm as England's rock, withstanding the pressure with smart running between the wickets before a flurry of boundaries in the final two overs took the score past 150.

New Zealand's previous highest score in the series was 141, which England chased down with four wickets to spare, showing the magnitude of the task ahead.

Brooke Halliday was the only batter to pass 20 in support of Amelia Kerr as their lack of depth was once again glaring in contrast to England, who had Dean adding a valuable 24 from 19 balls from number eight.

Knight spoke of a desire for England to be more ruthless before the series began, and they well and truly delivered, sending a poor New Zealand side home without even a consolation win to celebrate.

'England are flying towards the World Cup' - reaction

New Zealand's Amelia Kerr speaking to BBC Two: "It was a very tough series, not winning a game. England are a quality side who are one of the best in the world and the best thing we can do is go home and learn from this."

England captain Heather Knight on BBC Two: "Really pleased. We talked about wanting to finish this summer unbeaten.

"We've talked about nailing teams when they're on top and we've done that. I'm a very happy captain."

Former New Zealand all-rounder Frankie Mackay on BBC Two: "I watch the way this England side plays their cricket at the moment and I think it's brilliant.

"They have found the formula and what works for them. They are flying towards the World Cup."