England restored some belated respectability in their one-day series against New Zealand by winning the third and final match by 34 runs at Trent Bridge, Nottingham on Wednesday.
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 on Thursday.
The two sides meet again in the eight-nation 50-overs competition during the group stages in Cardiff on June 16.
England owed their competitive total of 287 for six to Eoin Morgan and Jos Buttler who smashed 64 runs off the last three overs.
The pair came together for the final ball of the 46th over after England had laboured to 210 for five, with Ian Bell contributing 82 from 96 deliveries.
Morgan, struggling for form in the series, started to strike the ball sweetly after a slow start, lofting three sixes in his 49 from 40 balls.
Buttler cracked a whirlwind 47 not out from 16 deliveries, also with three sixes, including two off Tim Southee's final over.
A six off the last ball of the innings would have given Buttler the world record for the fastest one-day international half-century. But he could manage only two and Sri Lankan Sanath Jayasuriya's 17-ball record set against Pakistan in 1996 remained intact.
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.
England, who rested their two leading bowlers James Anderson and Graeme Swann, will have been heartened by the performances of pacemen Steven Finn and Stuart Broad who missed the first two matches through injury. They bowled 9.3 and nine overs respectively without any apparent problems.
Photo: England's Jos Buttler hits out during the third one-day international against New Zealand at Trent Bridge cricket ground in Nottingham (REUTERS/Philip Brown)
