The teams meet in the fourth ODI on Friday and England are 4/9 to complete a 3-1 series success against the 7/4 Black Caps.

The next fixture between these sides will be the opening game of the World Cup in Ahmedabad on 5th October. World champions England are 3/1 for a successful title defence while New Zealand, beaten after a Super Over in the 2019 final at Lord's, are 15/2.

Stokes warms up for World Cup defence with stunning knock

Ben Stokes's decision to come out of ODI retirement for the 2023 Cricket World Cup is looking better and better by the day and England's Test captain played a stunning match-winning innings at The Oval on Wednesday.

Batting at number four, Stokes came to the crease in the third over after Jonny Bairstow and Joe Root had been dismissed for nought and four.

He shared a partnership of 199 with fellow left-hander Dawid Malan and kicked on after Malan's dismissal for 96, cracking nine sixes in a 124-ball 182.

That effort eclipsed Jason Roy's 180 against Australia as England's highest individual ODI score and New Zealand may well be hoping that Stokes is rested for the final game of the series at Lord's.

That was the scene of his heroic 84 not out in the 2019 World Cup final in which England pipped the Black Caps on the boundary count-back rule after a tied Super Over.

Stokes is 8/1 to be Player of the Match, as he was in the final four years ago, and 4/1 to be the Player to Score Most Match 6s.

England are expected to win more comfortably on Friday, when they are 4/9 to see off 7/4New Zealand, who chased down 292, losing only two wickets, to win the first ODI in Cardiff.

However, they were bowled out for 147 in a rain-affected second game at the Rose Bowl and crumbled to 187 at The Oval, where England racked up 368, so they will be desperate for a morale-boosting batting performance before the World Cup.

Backing left-armers could be right choice at Lord's

One positive for New Zealand from their losses at the Rose Bowl and The Oval is the form of pace ace Trent Boult, who played a key role in their runs to the 2015 and 2019 World Cup finals.

The left-armer got rid of Bairstow, Root and Stokes in the space of 14 balls on his return to international action in the second game and he was right on the money again at The Oval.

Boult had Bairstow caught off the first ball of the match before Root chopped on to his stumps and the New Zealand star finished with figures of 5-51 as the rest of the Kiwi bowlers struggled.

Boult is 9/4 to be New Zealand's Team - Top Bowler at Lord's, where left-armers have enjoyed great success with the white ball recently.

Australia's Jason Behrendorff and Mitchell Starc both took five-wicket hauls there in the World Cup while Pakistan's Shaheen Shah Afridi claimed 6-35 against Bangladesh and Boult took four scalps against Australia.

England left-armer Reece Topley took 6-24 against India at Lord's last summer and, having picked up five wickets in the last two matches, he is 15/4 to be the hosts' Team - Top Bowler.

Malan and Mitchell could extend fine form with bat

One of the main talking points before this series was whether Harry Brook could force his way into England's World Cup squad but Dawid Malan and Liam Livingstone, two of the batters under pressure, have risen to the challenge.

Malan made 54 in Cardiff before his classy 96 at The Oval and he is 4/1 to be England's Team - Top Batter with Livingstone, who scored 95 not out to drag his side out of trouble at the Rose Bowl, 10/1.

Given the threat posed by the new ball at Lord's, it may pay to focus on New Zealand's middle-order players in that market.

Daryl Mitchell, who played for London Spirit at Lord's in The Hundred this summer and scored a Test century at the Home of Cricket in June 2022, is 15/4 to be New Zealand's Team - Top Batter.

Mitchell made a brilliant 118 not out in the first ODI and 57 at the Rose Bowl while Glenn Phillips, 6/1 to top-score at Lord's, contributed 72 in a total of 187 on Wednesday.

bet365 News Team

• England Men's Cricket Team
• New Zealand Men's Cricket Team
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