New Zealand's match-winner in the National Bank Series decider in Dunedin last night, Nathan Astle won due recognition for his feats from the English press today.

Astle's career-best innings 122 not out was sufficient to guide New Zealand home to take the series 3-2 and to stop in the water England's quiet development towards next year's World Cup.

Not only did Astle bat the side home, Chris Cairns and Daryl Tuffey bowled too well for England and they were backed by a fielding performance that rarely wavered throughout the five-game series for New Zealand.

Man for man, New Zealand proved the better team.

The Guardian: "As New Zealand chased a moderate 219, Astle pulverised the new ball, collected his thoughts in mid-innings and then belted his way to the close. In all there were five sixes and a dozen boundaries in 150 balls.

"England had their chances against him. When only 15, he drove Matthew Hoggard low to Nick Knight at shortish extra-cover, but Knight would have trouble catching rabies from a mad dog at the moment. And in the following over he would have been out by yards had Owais Shah hit the stumps at the bowler's end. But England do not hit the stumps these days; New Zealand did so three times in as many attempts with the match not half an hour old.

"England played into Astle's hands. His attacking game is based on vicious cutting and slashing, in the manner of the great New Zealander Glenn Turner. He drives rarely, and then usually from down the pitch, miles into the air. By the end of his innings he was seeing the ball as big and clear as the full moon that rose over the stands.

"Only when (Andrew) Flintoff removed the other opener Chris Nevin and then Craig White got rid of Brendon McCullum and Stephen Fleming in quick succession did England haul themselves back into the game. Astle then lost the strike for a while and was forced to watch Craig McMillan struggling for form."

The Independent: "In the end it was a match too far. The trouble with playing catch-up cricket, as England have done for most of the winter, is that it catches up with you. Having come from 3-1 down in India to draw 3-3, they had managed to pull level 2-2 with New Zealand after trailing 2-0. It was a compelling effort, which did everything to enliven a one-day series in which ball usually had the edge over bat, but Frank Sinatra's world record for comebacks remains intact.

"The home side deservedly won the decisive match of the series by five wickets with seven balls to spare when Nathan Astle struck a full toss for his fifth six in a domineering innings of 122 not out. It was Astle's 12th one-day century, the highest of his career, the first by any player in this rubber, and eventually irresistible.

"While Astle was there, the Kiwis were always going to win. If England could have prised him out they might have nosed home. The chief virtue of this side is that they do not know when they are beaten, otherwise they might have suffered some frightful hammerings. There was an extremely hard chance to short cover just before Astle moved rapidly through the gears and another difficult caught-and-bowled chance towards the end. To win tight matches, and this one was tight in the sense that it was the final, you have to take tight catches."

The Times: "Nathan may be a familiar Old Testament figure, but New Zealand's most famous batsman of that name tends rather to defy biblical wisdom. Nathan Astle beat England largely off his own bat in the fifth and deciding game of the one-day series yesterday, emphasising in the process that New Zealand are still the better side, yet he remains a prophet without honour except in his own country.

"That is to stretch a point, perhaps, but certainly this small, strong, resourceful all-rounder is undervalued beyond the North and South Islands. Few outside New Zealand would place him high among the stars of the international game and even the statistical wizards who produce the PricewaterhouseCoopers ratings place him, after his innings of 122 not out, just outside the top ten.

"The fact is that, when he scored his twelfth one-day hundred in his 150th international match for his country, he drew level with Gary Kirsten, of South Africa, and now lies behind only six other batsmen in the world in this table of achievement.

"Kirsten has played in 20 more games and those above them on the list of century-makers - Sachin Tendulkar, Saeed Anwar, Sourav Ganguly, Mark Waugh, Desmond Haynes and Brian Lara - have played even more.

"Only Lara does not regularly open the batting in one-day cricket. It is the best place to bat, without doubt, especially when a player combines a good technique with a certain weight of stroke, as Astle does. He hit five sixes yesterday, five more than England could manage between them, on a firm if not especially fast pitch and another ground with invitingly small boundaries."

The Telegraph: "Big match performances from the Black Caps' two classiest acts, Nathan Astle and Chris Cairns, condemned England to a 3-2 defeat in their one-day series, and left them with five wins and six losses since landing in India in January.

"But this tour was never about results as much as team evolution, which took another step forward last night. Replacing the injured Michael Vaughan at No 5, Owais Shah scored his second half-century in nine one-day internationals.

"After Paul Collingwood's four for 38 at Napier, and Vaughan's majestic 59 in Auckland, Shah's innings extended a run of eye-catching form among the junior players. "All I'm worried about is trying to make us a better team, and I think we are going in the right direction," said team captain Nasser Hussain afterwards.

"Hussain won a good toss, and elected to bat, but England were always short of the big individual score they needed to reach a par total of 250. Five an over has been the gold standard in New Zealand - anything else left the bowlers too much to do.

"Though Marcus Trescothick produced his second-longest innings of the series, England's explosive opener had faced only 11 balls when he sliced a drive to backward point. Half-an-hour later, Nick Knight fell in exactly the same fashion (c Harris b Tuffey), and when Graham Thorpe played around a straight ball, the tourists had lost their three left-handed bankers for only 62 runs."

The Sun: "This time, Andrew Flintoff held his head in his hands after a final over which brought only pain and punishment.

"Flintoff was hoisted for two sixes by century-maker Nathan Astle as England were condemned to defeat in the one-day series.

"Astle's assault in the 49th and, as it turned out, last over clinched New Zealand's victory by five wickets - and the fluctuating series 3-2.

"It meant England ended their congested winter of limited-overs cricket with a 5-0 win over Zimbabwe, a 3-3 draw with India and now this loss to the Kiwis.

"What a contrast for Flintoff from his last over of the series in India 23 days previously when he tore off his shirt and whirled it above his head.

"Then, the Lancashire all-rounder restricted India to five runs, took a wicket and helped England to a memorable five-run victory.

"It would be wrong to heap blame on Flintoff. The reason England lost was that their batsmen failed to muster any more than 218-8 on a decent pitch.

"England captain Nasser Hussain and Owais Shah, back in for the injured Michael Vaughan, both made half-centuries but England's innings never gained sufficient momentum."

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