Stephen Fleming was relaxed and relieved after his New Zealand side won the fifth and deciding one-dayer by five wickets at Dunedin tonight. "Basically our summer of one-dayers depended on us winning today," he said. "That's how we treated it. We play very well when we're desperate." The theme of desperation, that Fleming first touched on after Saturday's defeat at Napier, kept cropping up. "The series has ebbed and flowed nicely," he said. "It's come down to who's grabbed the ascendancy. The team that's been more desperate on the day has won. We started off with a hiss and a roar and I guess we lost the edge a little bit when we were 2-0 up."

There were kind words for England. "They came back very well, which is becoming a characteristic of their side. And from what I've heard and read in the media, they actually pride themselves on it. So we knew we were up against it."

Fleming said the key to victory had been taking wickets, particularly the three at the top of the England order. "If you can chip away a couple you can deny a run-rate throughout. That stumps any chance of getting a big score. There were times when they had periods of dominance, and it took five or six good deliveries, from Daryl Tuffey [who removed Nasser Hussain during a wicket maiden] in particular, to create a mistake. That gave us the opening."

But Fleming wasn't reading too much into the result in terms of its bearing on the Test series. "I don't think it's a massive advantage, if any," he said. "There's two weeks now for England to play first-class cricket. We probably finished on a better note, so we go away with a better feeling. But come the first day of the Test, I'm sure the one-day series will be all forgotten."

Nathan Astle, who won his second match award of the series for his unbeaten 122, said his innings was the result of a change of gameplan. "I wanted to be a little more positive. I felt the first four games I wasn't playing my natural game and I got a couple of roughies and the confidence went a little bit. So today I just thought I'll go out and play my natural game."

He reached 50 in just 42 balls - and that was part of the plan too. "I always try to get 50 in the first 15 overs if I'm playing well, and then just bat through the rest. That's what I try to do every time. If someone manages to do that then we usually come out on top in the end. It was one of the most satisfactory innings that I've had."

An understated conclusion from an understated - but satisfied - team.

Lawrence Booth is assistant editor of Wisden.com.

© Wisden CricInfo Ltd