Pace pair put Cook in happy mood

Alastair Cook had his pace attack to thank most for helping England to their first one-day international series win in New Zealand for more than 20 years.

England did it the hard way too, going 1-0 down in the first match of three in Hamilton but recovering to post comfortable wins in Napier and then at Eden Park. Both times, it was the new-ball bowling of Steven Finn and James Anderson which put them in control.

On Friday Finn and Anderson reduced the Kiwis to 11 for three en route to victory, and Cook said: "It's been quite a long time since we won a one-day series in New Zealand, so we will enjoy tonight. We've shown a lot of character. We were disappointed with ourselves in that first game. Then we had two must-win games, and we held our nerve and raised our standard."

Cook points out that, although many pundits expected England to add this ODI series to their Twenty20 triumph here, New Zealand can be formidable opponents in their own country.

"We came into this series, and everyone was saying 'you're expected to win quite easily'.

"We were saying 'we'll have none of that - because it's 21 years since we won a one-day series here, and the Kiwis have just beaten South Africa in one'.

"We can be mighty proud of the way we've gone about our business this week."

There is no doubt Finn and Anderson were the key.

"I actually thought they were better today than they were in the last game," added Cook.

"There's not actually very much the batter can do if they bowl like that. They're taking a big punt to take a risk to try to score some runs."