New Zealand and England entered the final Twenty20 international in Wellington knowing that victory would earn them a 2-1 series win.
England had comfortably emerged with a 40-run success from the opening match, before New Zealand responded with an excellent bowling display in beating the tourists by 55 runs in the second match.
Stuart Broad and Jade Dernbach picked up three wickets each as England restricted New Zealand to 139-8, before an emphatic batting performance from Michael Lumb and Alex Hales guided England to a 10-wicket win.
Read below to see how the action unfolded with Sports Mole's live commentary.
Hello and welcome to Sports Mole's coverage of the third Twenty20 international between New Zealand and England in Wellington.
ENGLAND WIN THE TOSS!
Stuart Broad calls correctly and the England captain has decided to bowl first. Broad tells Sky Sports News: "The stats suggest that chasing isn't going to be easy but like in any Twenty20 cricket, you need to make sure that you score right."
Broad's opposite number, Brendon McCullum, admits that he too would have decided to field first. "We would have bowled too," he tells Sky Sports News. "It looks a pretty good wicket here but hopefully we can continue the trend of whoever bats first wins the match."
Team news to follow...
England have made one change to their side from the second Twenty20 international, with Joe Root replacing Samit Patel, while New Zealand have retained the same starting lineup.
NEW ZEALAND XI: Guptill, Rutherford, B.McCullum, Taylor, Munro, Elliott, Franklin, N.McCullum, Butler, Boult, McClenaghan
ENGLAND XI: Lumb, Hales, Wright, Bairstow, Morgan, Buttler, Root, Broad, Tredwell, Finn, Dernbach
Going into today's match, the series is in the balance. England easily defeated New Zealand in the opening match by 40 runs, but the hosts hit back three days ago with a 55-run win to ensure that today's victor will take the spoils.
The teams are all set to walk out in Wellington. Stuart Broad admitted after Tuesday's match that he got his decision wrong to field first. It remains to be seen whether he has made the correct choice on this occasion...
Here we go. Steven Finn bowls to Hamish Rutherford...
Super start from Finn, conceding just three runs from the over, which the two New Zealand batsman ran well. Broad to open up at the other end.
Rutherford records New Zealand's first boundary of the innings with a powerful shot through the covers. That aside, Broad is on the money and England have began well.
Eoin Morgan misses a run-out opportunity with Rutherford well short. He would have expected to have hit the stumps. Finn's over is spoilt as Rutherford flicks the ball to the third man boundary.
WICKET! Rutherford (11) c Dernbach b Broad
England have struck early and Broad has removed Rutherford. Rutherford attempted to pull the ball to the boundary but the ball was far too close to his body and he gloved the ball to the waiting Jade Dernbach. Brendon McCullum comes to the crease.
Big appeal from Finn after the ball clatters into the pads of McCullum but the ball is going down the leg side. An outside edge to third man gets the New Zealand skipper off the mark.
Dernbach is into the attack and he is immediately dispatched down the ground by McCullum. New Zealand upped the tempo considerably in that over, which was the last over before the end of the batting Powerplay.
Broad saves Finn's final over until later in the innings and he introduces Luke Wright to the action. McCullum pulls the all-rounder's second ball for four and attempts to repeat the feat with the penultimate ball of the over, but he hits straight to the fielder. Nine runs from the over.
Dernbach gets just one over and spin bowler James Tredwell is on. His opening deliveries are too short but a fuller ball is fired through the covers by Guptill. New Zealand reach 50.
New Zealand are beginning to get on top of the England bowlers and McCullum moves to 24 off 17 balls with a four off his pads and two runs straight down the ground.
WICKET! B.McCullum (26) c Bairstow b Tredwell
Huge wicket for England. New Zealand pick up a couple of singles off the first two deliveries before McCullum sends a slog sweep straight up into the air for Jonny Bairstow to take a good catch on the boundary.
WICKET! Taylor (6) c Bairstow b Root
Root is into the attack for his first over in Twenty20 internationals and he picks up a wicket with his fifth delivery. Moments after being smashed for six by Ross Taylor, the batsman is dismissed in similar fashion to that of McCullum after being caught on the leg side boundary by Bairstow.
Tredwell continues but it is a much better over for New Zealand. Martin Guptill and Grant Elliott rotate the strike well before Elliott sends a slog sweep for six.
Just five singles as Root continues where he left off in the previous over. Both sides will be relatively content with how the match is progressing so far.
Tredwell completes his spell by conceding six runs off his final over for figures of 1-31. England have done well to keep New Zealand below 100 at this stage but the hosts will be looking to score heavily in the final six overs.
WICKET! Elliott (15) c Finn b Dernbach
Dernbach returns in place of Root and after opening with a dot ball, he dismisses Elliott after the batsman send the ball straight to Finn at third man. A superb over from Dernbach.
WICKET! Munro (1) c Root b Broad
England have seized the advantage in this match and Broad picks up the fifth wicket of the innings. Munro attempted to pull the ball to the leg side boundary but he got it all wrong and Root took an easy catch. Another over passes by without a boundary.
James Franklin stops the rot by driving his side's first four in 27 balls. Martin Guptill has gone through his innings somewhat unnoticed by scoring just a solitary boundary in bringing up 43 runs from 47 balls.
Guptill puts his foot on the accelerator with a four off Dernbach's first ball before hitting the second delivery for two. The opener brings up a run-a-ball half century with a quickly run single. Guptill takes New Zealand's tally up to 15 for the over with a huge six over deep midwicket.
WICKET! Guptill (59) c & b Broad
Finn drops a difficult chance after Frankin smashes the ball just short of his dive. The pace bowler has momentarily left the field for treatment. His pain is made easier when Broad takes the wicket of Guptill, who looped the ball into the air to give the England skipper an easy catch. Broad finishes his spell with tremendous figures of 3-15.
WICKET! N.McCullum (0) c Buttler b Dernbach
WICKET! Franklin (15) c Tredwell b Dernbach
Dernbach starts the over well, conceding just a single before Nathan McCullum edges his first delivery straight to Jos Buttler. Franklin sends the fourth ball of the over straight down the ground for four, before edging the next ball past the despairing dive of the England wicket-keeper. Dernbach finishes with figures of 3-36 after Tredwell takes the catch to dismiss James Franklin.
So, there you have it. New Zealand set England a target of 140 to win the series. The hosts would have been hoping for a bigger score but they remain competitive in the match.
Stuart Broad was most definitely the pick of England's bowlers, registering figures of 3-15 from his four overs. That spell was in sharp contrast to that of the previous game, where he got hit for 53 runs.
It was far from explosive, but New Zealand would have been grateful for the contribution from opening batsman Martin Guptill. The 26-year-old hit just two fours and a six in his 55-ball innings but without him, this match would have been over.
The players are back out and England are ready to begin their reply. Michael Lumb to face the first ball...
New Zealand appeal for a catch off the first ball of the innings but the umpire rules that the ball clipped the pad. Lumb gets off the mark with a four and opening partner Alex Hales does the same by sending the ball just over Brendon McCullum's head behind the stumps.
Another huge appeal from New Zealand but this time, it is deemed that the ball struck Lumb too high on the pads. Mitchell McClenaghan hits back with an unplayable delivery that just missed the inside edge of Hales. Three more dot balls and McClenaghan has started well.
Ian Butler replaces Trent Boult and he should have a wicket to his name but Ross Taylor jumped too early at slip and subsequently dropped the catch. A big let-off for Hales. The England batsmen are struggling to time their shots but Hales restores some calm by hitting the final ball of the over straight down the ground for four.
McClenaghan's work in his first over is undone as Lumb sends him for back-to-back sixes. The first one is straight down the ground before the second one is sent over deep midwicket. New Zealand put down their second catch in as many overs, when Alex Hales sends the ball skywards but an onrushing Brendan McCullum fails to take the catch, when it was maybe easier for Ross Taylor to claim the ball.
England are making huge inroads into the 140 target with three more boundaries off the first four balls, all of which came down the leg side. The first was four leg byes, before Hales dispatched the next two with ease. Butler has had a shocker in this over, sending the next ball for five wides. Hales sends the next ball for four more to take 23 runs from the over. It will be tough ask for New Zealand from here.
Nathan McCullum has been brought into the attack and he restricts England to three runs. However, the damage was done in the last over.
As expected, Butler has been swiftly removed and replaced by Boult. However, he is given the same treatment as his predecessor as Hales launches him for a maximum. Three more singles come from the over, and Hales has moved to 35 off 23 while Lumb is on 24 off 19.
McCullum looked to be heading to another decent over but Lumb sends a fantastic flat slog-sweep to the boundary for six. England require just over five runs an over from here.
James Franklin comes on from Trent Boult, but both Hales and Lumb manoeuvre the ball about for seven more runs. You could hear a pin drop in the Cake Tin ground.
England are making a mockery of New Zealand's attack. It looks easy for Hales as he casually advances down the pitch to hit another four off the bowling of McCullum. He moves to 48 runs off 35 deliveries.
McClenaghan is back as New Zealand desperately look to capture their first wicket, but Hales picks up his half century with a huge six, which also brought up the 100 partnership off 63 balls. The shackles have been taken off by Hales and after a four is driven down the ground, he swipes the next ball away for another six over deep square. The punishment for McClenaghan isn't over as Hales clears the ropes once more with a powerful shot back over the bowler's head. Hales has 70 runs off 38 balls.
This is Twenty20 batting at its absolute best. After a couple of well-placed twos, Lumb records his fourth six of the innings after striking the ball to the off side boundary. However, Lumb is lucky to survive when Nathan McCullum misses a simple run-out chance.
ENGLAND WIN BY 10 WICKETS!
Brutal. Absolutely brutal. Butler is back but after conceding 23 runs earlier in the innings, Hales picks up where he left off with two more boundaries. With Lumb close to his half century, Hales gets off strike and his opening partner wastes no time in securing his fifty by pulling the ball over the deep square-leg boundary and over the stand to win the match in style.
That is one of the most clinical, destructive batting displays that you are ever likely to see in a Twenty20 international. Lumb and Hales looked uncertain at the beginning of their innings but they responded with a masterclass of aggressive hitting to win the series in emphatic fashion.
Hales finished on 80 from 42 balls and Lumb recorded 53 off 34 balls, but the contribution of Broad, Finn and Dernbach with the ball shouldn't be forgotten. This was an impeccable performance by England and they can go into Sunday's opening one-day international in buoyant mood.
Before I leave you today, it should be noted that Michael Lumb recorded a quite ridiculous stat during his innings. He hit one four during his 34-ball knock but he managed FIVE sixes.
Thank you for following today's match with Sports Mole and be sure to join us for the start of the one-day series between the two sides on Sunday.
