With the series level at one-all after the first two games, New Zealand elected to bowl after winning the toss and took immediate control. Most of the England batsmen reached double figures but they were unable to convert them into big score, only England’s captain Eoin Morgan top scoring with 48. Jos Buttler managed to attack the bowling until Ish Sodhi, the most successful of the New Zealand bowlers with three wickets, had him caught behind for 29 off 23 deliveries. At the top of the order, openers Jonny Bairstow and Jason Roy struggled from the start and when Trent Boult claimed Roy's wicket for 15 at the end of the eighth over, England lost their first wicket for 25 runs.

New Zealand introduced the spin of Mitch Santner in the 11th over, with England 36 for one, and on his fifth ball Joe Root had a life when he drove a long hop to midwicket where Williamson dropped a one-handed catch attempt. Sodhi came into his own when he bowled Bairstow for 19 just as the England opener was starting to look comfortable after spending 16 overs patiently settling in. The tourists were then three wickets for 68 runs in the 17th over and the run rate slowed when Ben Stokes joined Eoin Morgan. They managed only five runs in their first three overs together.

Returning England all-rounder Ben Stokes, the England hero when they won the second ODI three days ago, was sadly out of sorts with nine runs off the first 24 deliveries he faced, while Morgan picked up ones, twos and the occasional boundary at the other end. But on 48, after facing 71 deliveries, the England captain was bowled by a Tim Southee delivery that did not deviate off its line.