England's batsmen produced a dominant display to seal a 2-1 series victory over New Zealand as openers Alex Hales and Michael Lumb both hit unbeaten half centuries to secure a dominant 10-wicket victory in Wellington.

Having been set a target of 140 by the Kiwi's, the two openers were rarely troubled but a wayward New Zealand attack as they saw England home with more than seven overs to spare.

England
The England cricket team celebrate winning the T20 series against New Zealand [Reuters]

Captain Stuart Broad once again won the toss and decided to put the hosts into bat, despite admitting in the second T20 game that the same decision had backfired as New Zealand cruised to victory.

However, this time there were to be few fireworks from the Kiwi batsmen, with Martin Guptill the only man to make a serious contribution with 59 from 55 balls.

Guptill eventually fell after beating for pace by Broad and only managing to chip the ball back into the safe hands of the England skipper.

England had started brightly as Broad removed Hamish Rutherford for 11 after the opening batsman attempted the pull shot but could only glove the ball to Jade Dernbach.

Brendan McCullum and Guptill managed to gain some momentum for New Zealand but they were struggling to increase the run rate and in the 10<sup>th over the wicket keeper went for the big shot but Jonny Bairstow took a superb catch on the boundary rope off the bowling of James Tredwell.

Ross Taylor was removed for just six after Bairstow claimed another catch in the deep off the bowling of Joe Root and when Grant Elliot [5] and Colin Munro [1] were dismissed, New Zealand were in trouble at 99-5 in the 16<sup>th over.

Nathan McCullum was unable to trouble the scoring as he edged Dernbach to Jos Buttler and it was left to James Franklin to try and post a competitive score as he hit a quick 15 before being snagged by the same bowler.

Having posted 139-8, England brutally took apart the New Zealand attack as Lumb and Hales combined to hit nine sixes and 10 fours en-route to victory.

Ian Butler was the one bowler that the England openers targets as his 2.4 overs went for 41 runs, but in truth all of the New Zealand bowlers were struggling to cope with the onslaught.

Michael Lumb
Michael Lumb on teh way to hitting an unbeaten half century that saw England beat New Zealand by 10 wickets. [Reuters]

By just the 12<sup>th over it was all over as Lumb hit yet another maximum to hand England the win as he finished on 53 not out, while his opening partner played an ever more desturtive innings as his 80 came from just 42 balls.

After the disappointment of losing the second T20 international, Broad could not hide his delight as his England side produced a totally dominant display.

"I'm delighted to put on a performance like that, our bowlers set things up and our openers have come out and really entertained," said Broad.

It was just the 11<sup>th time in international Twenty20 history that a side had won by 10 wickets and England will hope to continue their good form into the one-day series which begins in Hamilton on Sunday.