Maia Bouchier and Sophie Ecclestone star as England hammer New Zealand

NICK FRIEND AT NEW ROAD: Bouchier had never made a professional hundred until this afternoon, coming after Ecclestone recorded her second-best ODI figures

Worcester: New Zealand 141, England 142-2 - England win by eight wickets

Sophie Ecclestone claimed five wickets and Maia Bouchier hit an unbeaten hundred – her first in professional cricket – as England hammered New Zealand for a second successive ODI.

Ecclestone recorded figures of 5 for 25 in nine overs – the second-best of her international 50-over career – as the tourists subsided in dispiriting fashion, collapsing from 114 for 3 to 141 all out, at one point having lost 6 for 10 in 7.4 overs. In response, Bouchier ended 100 not out.

It meant that a sold-out New Road was treated to a convincing, efficient job from Heather Knight's side after the England captain won the toss and elected to field.

When Georgia Plimmer chipped to cover and Suzie Bates top-edged behind, the White Ferns had lost both openers inside six overs. A slow rebuild followed between Amelia Kerr and Sophie Devine, with the New Zealand skipper striking five fours in her 34-ball 28.

But once she danced down the pitch to Ecclestone only to be stumped, England were in total control.

Maddy Green made four in her first 28 balls before briefly breaking the shackles, but she was trapped in front by Charlie Dean, which precipitated the major collapse.

^{Sophie Ecclestone took five wickets for England (David Rogers/Getty Images)}

Brooke Halliday missed a slog-sweep at Ecclestone and Lauren Down was undone by a beauty in the left-armer's next over without scoring. Izzy Gaze also went for no score, holing out to mid-off after Amelia Kerr, who top-scored with 43, had chipped back to Dean for a smart return catch.

Jess Kerr contributed three boundaries to take 124 for 8 to a final total of 141, but that was never likely to be sufficient, particularly when Bouchier came out on a mission.

She was imperious for her first professional hundred, with 17 fours. She had previously made 95 against Sri Lanka last September and fell nine runs short of a T20I hundred against New Zealand over the winter.

She came through a major scare on 92, when an lbw review was shown only to be clipping leg-stump. Bouchier herself seemed shocked to survive, and from there she and Nat Sciver-Brunt counted their way to the century mark, with Sciver-Brunt more than content simply to pull up the drawbridge at her end, knowing that a meagre target was also within reach.

Bouchier, whose previous century came in 2012 while playing for Middlesex Under-13s, clipped two into the legside to reach three figures, with two runs needed for victory and 26.3 overs remaining. For England, the perfect end to a comprehensive afternoon's work.

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