Jenny Gunn fires England to series lead

England 223 for 4 (SJ Taylor 64, Greenway 45*, Gunn 37*) beat New Zealand 220 for 9 (Watkins 68, Gunn 5-31) by six wickets
Scorecard

Jenny Gunn excelled with bat and ball as England secured a six-wicket victory against New Zealand at Derby to take a 2-1 lead in the one-day series. Gunn ran through the visitors' top-order with a career-best 5 for 31 before guiding the run chase home with 37 from 43 balls after England had been wobbling.

Sarah Taylor (64) and Heather Knight (42) had formed an excellent platform in pursuit 221 as they added 108 for the first wicket in 26 overs. However, in the next eight overs England lost 4 for 32 as New Zealand hauled themselves back into the match.

It needed the cool heads of Gunn and Lydia Greenway to ensure the innings didn't fall away - with two stoppages for rain increasing the tension - as the pair added an unbroken 83 for the sixth wicket to complete the job with eight balls to spare.

"I can't believe the day I've had, it's been great," Gunn said. "I'm pleased my family were here to see it. It was tough work, I never thought I'd get it [five wickets] as I haven't been bowling much recently. Lydia is in great form at the moment, I enjoy batting with her. Duckworth-Lewis went out of our minds and we just kept hitting the runs."

New Zealand had earlier made a solid start to their innings with Lucy Doolan and Maria Fahey putting on an opening stand of 64. But Gunn changed the game when she removed Doolan and added the scalps of Suzie Bates and Sara McGlashan for ducks as New Zealand fell away to 79 for 5.

However, Aimee Watkins played a captain's innings with 68 as the lower order produced an impressive fightback with useful contributions from Liz Perry (28) and Sophie Devine (23). In the end, though, it still wasn't enough.