LONDON, England (CMC):

England women reaffirmed their status as the world's best when they crushed New Zealand by six wickets yesterday to add the World Twenty20 crown to their World Cup title.

Medium pacer Katherine Brunt bagged a career-best three for six off four overs as New Zealand crashed to 85 all out off exactly 20 overs and England marched to victory at 86 for four with 18 balls to spare in front of a good crowd at Lord's.

"We love coming to Lord's. For the first time, we've had such a great amount of support," Player of the match Brunt said in the post-game presentation.

"It's great for women's cricket," she added.

Chief scorer

England women had also beaten New Zealand Women in the Women's World Cup final in Australia three months ago.

Amy Satterthwaite, who struggled for 19 off 42 balls, was New Zealand's chief scorer, while Brunt got good support from other medium pacers Nicky Shaw (2-17) and Jenny Gunn (2-19).

Few stutters

England had a few stutters in their run chase but comfortably reached the target in the end through Claire Taylor, with an unbeaten 39 off 32 balls and Sarah Taylor (23). Claire Taylor won the Player-of-the-Series award.

New Zealand's captain Aimee Watkins blamed her team's batting failure for the defeat.

"We've had a good tournament but obviously it's really disappointing to lose. Around 120 might have been a defendable score," Watkins said.

"We were not nervous, we were outplayed," she added.

The Women's WT20 final was played ahead of the men's final between Pakistan and Sri Lanka.