Taylor and Sciver help England seal series

England232 for 5 (Taylor 93, Sciver 65) beat New Zealand 230 for 8 (Perkins 70*, Devine 58, Grundy 3-36) by five wickets
Scorecard

A disciplined bowling performance was backed up for Sarah Taylor and Natalie Sciver as England Women sealed the series 3-2 with a five-wicket win over New Zealand Women in Lincoln.

Chasing 231, England had a poor start, with Heather Knight falling lbw to Lea Tahuhu off the fifth ball of the innings. Charlotte Edwards and Daniel Wyatt were also trapped in front leaving the visitors at 71 for 3 in the 16th over.

That's when Taylor, who made an unbeaten 89 in the previous game, took charge. She struck 93 off 99 balls with 10 fours and her counterattacking 53-run stand for the fifth wicket with Sciver regained England's lost momentum. Though she couldn't stay till the end, Sciver did and her unbeaten 65 off 63 balls sealed the victory with five overs to spare.

New Zealand had suffered a top-order wobble as well after they had been put in and had been reduced to 53 for 3 courtesy left-arm spinner Rebecca Grundy. They slipped to 101 for 5 before Sophie Devine and Katie Perkins resisted. They added 75 runs off 112 balls and took New Zealand into the last five overs.

But Sciver removed Devine for 58 to diminish chances of a late surge. Perkins pushed New Zealand to 230 and stayed unbeaten on 70, her career-best ODI score. However, it could not prevent England from taking the series 3-2.