Phil Mustard and fellow opener Alistair Cook were under pressure to improve on a poor run of starts after New Zealand won the toss and elected to field in the 4th ODI.  The pressure almost cost Cook dear as he was dropped on just 2 but he managed to put the scare behind him and the pair posted an opening stand of 158 before Mustard was caught on the boundary attempting one hit too many.

Mustard showed some of his aggressive best as he and Cook kept the run rate around six an over and has hopefully silenced at least some of his critics. Another good batting performance in the final ODI must earn him the chance to start in the test series.

Cook fell just one ball after Mustard leaving Bell and Pieterson to rebuild which they did very effectively, Bell falling first for 43 bringing captain Collingwood to the wicket. Pieterson scored 50 before he fell to Vettori leaving Luke Wright to join Collingwood.

Colly was even more brutal than Mustard and hit six sixes on his way to the fastest ever half century by an English player, taking just 24 balls to reach the milestone.  

With a target of 341, New Zealand should have cracked under pressure but amazingly after 40 overs of their reply they were in the driving seat and even Colly admitted that with six overs left he felt that England were 'dead ducks'.

Colly chose Luke Wright to bowl the final over, his first of the match, and what a good over it was, New Zealand managed to score just six and that not without incident. Colly himself had an opportunity to run out Kyle Mills from the last ball of the match which would have left England the victors by one run.

As it was, New Zealand lead the five match series 2-1 with one game to play...

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