AP
New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori (centre) and his team pose with the winning trophy after they defeated England in the best-of-five one-day series at AMI Stadium in Christchurch yesterday.

CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand (AP):

BRENDON MCCULLUM smashed 77 from 43 balls with six sixes to lead New Zealand to a series-clinching four-wicket win over England in the fifth limited-overs match yesterday.

McCullum raced to his half century from 27 balls in a 103-run opening stand with Jesse Ryder (24) which set up New Zealand for a comfortable win under the Duckworth-Lewis system used to decide rain-affected matches.

England dawdled to 242 for seven batting first after losing the toss and New Zealand were 213 for six - effectively 30 runs ahead on Duckworth-Lewis calculations - when rain stopped play after 37 overs.

High-scoring tie

New Zealand clinched the series 3-1, having won the first match by six wickets, the second by 10 wickets and the fifth by four wickets. England won the third by six wickets and the fourth ended in a high-scoring tie.

McCullum's outstanding innings made the home team's win certain, though it stumbled a little toward the end, losing three wickets with their total at 197.

New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori also survived a confident appeal for caught behind which would have placed his team under greater pressure, but the rain ended England's fightback.

McCullum showed why he fetched US$750,000 (euro505,000) in this week's auction of players for the inaugural Indian Premier League (IPL), leading an attack on England's bowlers.

His 103-run stand with Ryder was their second century partnership of the series. Their stands have now produced seven, 61, 70, 165 and 103 runs, at an average of 101 runs per match.

"They really rode the short boundaries, although they would have had no trouble with any boundaries the way they played," New Zealand captain Vettori said.

"There are a lot of proud guys in the dressingroom. We played some good cricket throughout the series and deserved to win. Hopefully, we can carry that forward to the Test series."

The teams play three Tests in March.

England made a slow start against accurate New Zealand bowling. Kyle Mills took two early wickets on his way to a four-wicket bag in the match, then spinners Vettori and Jeetan Patel tied down the England middle order.

Put under pressure

They struggled to 100 in the 25th over, to 150 in the 40th over and were only able to reach their eventual, moderate total when Luke Wright made 47 from 40 balls and Dimitri Mascarenhas 29 not out from 12 balls at the end of the innings.

By contrast, New Zealand reached 50 in 6.5 overs and 100 from only 10.4 overs or 67 balls.

After 10 overs, New Zealand were 96-0 whereas England were 33-1. McCullum bludgeoned three sixes among 21 runs from the 10th over of the innings, bowled by James Anderson, providing the foundation for a comfortable victory.

Mills finished with 4-34 while Vettori took 2-28 and Patel 1-33 from eight overs.

"Ryder and McCullum just came out and took the game away from us," England captain Paul Colling-wood said. "They were explosive in the first 10 overs, they put us under pressure and they were very difficult to bowl at.

"Having said that, I was proud of the way the boys fought back. We were still in the game when rain came but it came at the wrong time for us."