England in New Zealand: Batting costs the tourists once again as the hosts cruise to victory and claim an ODI series

England failed to overcome another brutal batting failure as New Zealand registered a two-wicket win in the third one-day international in Wellington to send the tourists to Australia on the back of a 3-0 defeat.

England’s top order folded again, bowled out for the third successive match to continue a worrying trend leading up to the Ashes later this month, before New Zealand threatened to derail their chase of 223.

They were cruising at 187-5, needing just 35 off 87 balls, only to lose captain Mitchell Santner for 27 and Darryl Mitchell for 44 in a 3-8 collapse.

That left 27 runs with two wickets remaining but the hope of an unexpected win boosting England’s morale was extinguished by a sustained ninth-wicket partnership between Zak Foulkes and Blair Tickner.

England’s bowling effort was impressive – instead, this defeat led to their final first-class collapse, which left them 44-5 down.

Joe Root was out for two, skipper Harry Brook six and Ben Duckett eight and they only got off 200 thanks to Jimmy Overton’s 68 – his first international fifty.

Seven of these players will now travel to Perth to boost their preparations for the highly anticipated series against Australia, which begins on November 21.

They are playing just one warm-up – a three-day match against the England Lions – leaving little chance for these struggling batsmen to find form before the series opener.

Meanwhile, Brook’s over-50 side have lost 11 of their 15 matches this year and need an improvement in their fortunes when they return to action in the new year or their direct qualification for the 2027 World Cup will be seriously threatened.