They came for a classic but Jonny Bairstow gave them a blowout. England made it six ODI series wins in a row with an emphatic seven-wicket triumph at a rammed Hagley Oval thanks to Bairstow’s remarkable 58-ball hundred. His fourth in the format and second in four days secured a 3-2 win, also putting him on the podium as third fastest scored by an Englishman in ODIs.

Not for the first time, it was the bowlers who put England in contention, restricting New Zealand to 223 all out. The absence of Ross Taylor, who aggravated his quadriceps injury during his match-winning, unbeaten 180 in the fourth ODI, took the punch out of their middle order. But exemplary new ball work from Mark Wood and Chris Woakes – named man of the series for his 10 wickets at 20.30 – reduced the Blackcaps to 26 for two, before Adil Rashid and Moeen Ali combined, bowling their full allocations through unhindered, to inflict a collapse of four wickets for 33 runs.

Yet, even though the hosts were able to cobble together a target of 224, Bairstow’s 10-over display, in which he smashed eight fours, six sixes and even his own stumps, made the other 72.3 overs of play academic.

“I’m really happy,” said Bairstow, whose face said it all. “After being in and out of the side for a couple of years, getting the odd game here and there, to come in and contribute in a role I’ve not necessarily done a huge amount previously for England, you’re still kind of learning – it’s really pleasing for me to go out and score hundreds.” It’s worth noting that all four of those hundreds have come since his ascension as opener. “That’s your job, to make chases like that – ones that shouldn’t be difficult but can be very tricky.”

A fine dab – boundary No 14 – and a single took him to three figures, just 20 balls needed for his second 50. The most brutal part, which took the result beyond doubt, was a period in which five of eight deliveries he faced from Ish Sodhi were blazed for six. The first brought up the century opening stand from 15.3 overs with Alex Hales, returning to the side for the first time since signing a white-ball only contract with Nottinghamshire, after Jason Roy pulled out with a back spasm. Dropped at the start of the series, with head coach Trevor Bayliss worried a lack of red ball cricket could be detrimental to his game, his measured 61 offers others reassurance and him credit in the bank.

When Bairstow hit his own wicket going back to lace Trent Boult at the start of the 21st over, the game was as good as done. Officially, a four and six from Ben Stokes saw England home by 108 balls.

Eoin Morgan, in his 200th ODI, won a crucial toss and backed his bowlers in the field. Woakes removed Colin Munro for his second duck in a row before Mark Wood’s patented leap across and angled delivery into the right-hander did for Blackcaps skipper Kane Williamson. Rashid, given the luxury of one on each side of the wicket, took his best haul of the series with three wickets of equal importance. The in-form Tom Latham and Martin Guptill, the only top five batsman to get the measure of this pitch, both found Stokes, at midwicket and cover, respectively. Colin de Grandhomme then picked out Tom Curran at long on to reduce New Zealand to 93 for six.

That would be Curran’s only involvement till the 40th over, by which point New Zealand had turned around their position to 151 for six. Henry Nicholls ended a barren series with his sixth ODI half-century, the guts of which came in an 84-run stand with Mitchell Santner, himself going on to his second 50 in three innings.

England’s captain Eoin Morgan after his team’s series win. Photograph: Marty Melville/AFP/Getty Images

After two not out scores and a run out at the non-striker’s end, Santner was finally dismissed by a bowler, falling in Woakes’s final over to the first of two stunning catches. Hales’s tumbling effort at deep square leg set the standard, only for Bairstow to better it two balls later: a one-handed grab after scarpering along the boundary, within a whisker of the sponge, accounting for Tim Southee. “It’s been a good day,” smirked Bairstow.

Victory with hours to spare left the 9,012 who flooded the banks with plans to make. Bairstow’s brilliance not only scuppered bowling plans, but social ones, too. But for England, it was about righting the wrongs of the fourth ODI in Dunedin, when a commanding position was spurned to allow New Zealand to scrape back to 2-2. A winner-takes-all tie was not to go the same way. “That wasn’t good enough from us,” stated Bairstow. “We know we needed to put in a clinical and ruthless performance here and that’s exactly what we did.”