Tammy Beaumont scored 81 to set England on their way to a series-clinching 56-run win over New Zealand in the second one-day international at Hamilton’s Seddon Park.

But New Zealand hit back and, after losing 6-59, England needed a quick 48 from Amy Jones to get take them up to a competitive 252 all out.

It proved to be more than enough as the White Ferns, faced with some disciplined England bowling, quickly fell behind the required rate.

Brooke Halliday and Izzy Gaze gave New Zealand hope with a 100 partnership for the fifth wicket but England brought back their seamers to halt the momentum.

The duo fell in quick succession and England swiftly wrapped up the victory as the home side were bowled out for 196 in the 45th over.

Nat Sciver-Brunt was the pick of the England bowlers, taking 3-21.

Having moved into an unassailable 2-0 series lead, Knight’s side will aim to complete the clean sweep in the third ODI at the same venue on Sunday.

Beaumont sets platform before Jones’ salvage job

With Beaumont and Knight at the crease, the pitch looked flat, batting appeared simple and England were on track for a sizeable total.

However, for the second game running, a middle-order collapse threatened to derail the tourists’ innings.

Jess Kerr removed Knight and Sciver-Brunt with a pair of well-executed slower balls before Alice Capsey was stumped off Fran Jonas.

Beaumont had remained calm at the other end, picking her moments to attack as she advanced towards a 10th ODI century.

One rush of blood denied her that milestone as she walked at Hannah Rowe and ballooned the ball to mid-on with an ugly leg-side swipe.

It was a shot totally out of sync with the controlled aggression Beaumont had shown to that point and when Danni Wyatt and Charlie Dean fell soon after, England were in trouble at 166-7.

Following her match-winning knock in Wellington, it was left to Jones to save them again, with another valuable counter-attacking innings.

The wicketkeeper-batter was backed up well by Kate Cross to get the visitors up to a useful total but, impressive as Jones has been, England would surely rather their number seven was not needed so often to rescue them as she has been in this series.

England still know how to win

While England have not been at their best as a batting unit, they have shown the ruthlessness of a team used to winning.

It is a quality missing from an inexperienced New Zealand side, who have created advantages in both games in this series and failed to drive home on each occasion.

When the roles have been reversed, England have been clinical. They squeezed a White Ferns batting line-up shorn of Bernadine Bezuidenhout, who pulled up while fielding and was unable to bat, early on.

Even when Halliday and Gaze were building their partnership, it never felt like things were getting away from England.

When the tourists were in difficulty, Bell and Cross returned to the attack, soon followed by Sciver-Brunt, and the pressure was upped.

That led to the run out of Gaze, Halliday fell eight balls later and, with that, the game was over as a contest.

England could do without the batting collapses but they still possess players with the quality and know-how required to produce the goods when the game is on the line.

‘Good to be put under pressure’ – reaction

England’s Tammy Beaumont, player of the match: “The best time to bat was probably against the new ball – that’s the perk of being an opener. It definitely got tougher in the middle and, at times, I couldn’t work out if it was me or the wicket.

“I was getting a bit frustrated but I got to 50 then tried to kick on and play catch up somewhat. My dad is probably sat at home saying it’s criminal that I got out on 81 and left the team with a bit of work to do.”

England captain Heather Knight: “It was a really hard-fought win. The wicket was quite tricky. We potentially lost our way a bit in the middle but we know the depth and quality we have – and the way Amy played again in that partnership with Kate got us to a total we felt was defendable.

“I’m really pleased with how we’ve gone. We’ve been tested which is really nice, we’ve been put under pressure, which is good for us as a side. We haven’t played a huge amount of 50-over cricket in the past 18 months so to be put in those situations is really important.”

New Zealand captain Amelia Kerr: “Another tough loss but I think there was a lot of great stuff. The way Brooke and Izzy played was outstanding. Even though the scorecard doesn’t look so good, I think they gave us a shot at winning that game.”