England 347 for 5 (Beaumont 102, Jones 60) beat New Zealand 144 (Knight 3-24, Cross 3-44) by 203 runs
If you had asked England to script their own season finale, their Canterbury tale would have been it to the letter.
Proud Kent batter Tammy Beaumont scored a fine century in front of her home crowd and Amy Jones stamped her return to form with a quick-fire 60, freeing Danni Wyatt to pepper the flats on the Spitfire Ground's edge with sixes to take England to their sixth-highest ODI total.
They were helped by some lacklustre bowling and wretched fielding by New Zealand, whose batters subsequently had no reply in pursuit of a 348-run target as England bowled them out inside 36 overs to win by 203 runs and seal the series 4-1.
An England batting line-up that had failed to fire collectively and too often relied on a saviour or lower-order partnerships - sometimes both - finally managed to hunt in a pack again with brutal effect.
Since her dominant 97 in the first T20I at Chelmsford to open New Zealand's tour, Beaumont's only other score of note was 44 in the first ODI in Bristol. In between she had scored 13 and 3 in the other two T20s and 12, 1 and 16 in the ODIs.
But she was in her element on Sunday, striking back-to-back fours off Molly Penfold as she and Lauren Winfield-Hill guided England to 55 without loss at the end of the Powerplay.
Later, Beaumont smashed three fours off one Lea Tahuhu over as she and Jones put on 97 runs for the fourth wicket.
Opener Winfield-Hill, who has struggled to covert starts this summer, was dropped four times en route to 43 before Hayley Jensen had her held at midwicket by Amy Satterthwaite, who a short time earlier had parried a chance over her head off the same batter and bowler.
Winfield-Hill had produced some fine shots, pulling Tahuhu for six, smashing Penfold for four over long-on and powering Hayley Jensen through wide long-off for another four and when she fell, England were 95 for 1.
When Heather Knight, centurion in England's series-clinching win in Derby on Thursday and Player of the Series following that innings and her 89 in Bristol, was strangled down the leg side by Tahuhu, they were 96 for 2 but Beaumont continued to anchor the innings with finesse.
Nat Sciver, who came into the match having scored 34 runs from three T20 and three ODI innings of New Zealand's tour, struck a handy 39 off 38 balls, including seven fours, before she was trapped lbw by Hannah Rowe.
That brought Jones to the crease, another middle-order batter in search of a significant contribution against the Kiwis. She showed signs with 40 in Derby but her 46-ball 60 was another step up.
Dropped on 32 when Jensen failed to take a return catch, Jones skipped down the pitch to heave Satterthwaite over deep extra cover for six and brought up her fifty off just 36 balls with a cut through deep point for four.
When Jones was out tamely spooning Sophie Devine to Tahuhu at extra cover and Beaumont followed nine balls later, caught by Suzie Bates at mid-on off Rowe, England were 268 for 5 and they weren't done by a long way.
Sophia Dunkley and Danni Wyatt put on another 79 runs, Wyatt positively scintillating with 43 not out off just 20 balls, including three powerful sixes over the leg side and another pummelled beyond deep extra cover. Their stand knocked all the air out of an already deflated New Zealand attack.
The White Ferns started a mammoth run-chase sedately, taking 36 balls to score their first boundary.
Having lost Bates to Anya Shrubsole and Lauren Down and Maddy Green to Sophie Ecclestone, Kate Cross then cut a swathe through the New Zealand middle order.
Cross had Satterthwaite caught on 6 by Sciver, making up for an earlier mistake that let the same batter off on 2. She then trapped Devine lbw and ripped out Katey Martin's off-stump as she swung across the line and missed to put New Zealand at 90 for 6.
Knight brought herself into the attack and claimed three wickets - including two in three balls to remove Brooke Halliday and Rowe. Charlie Dean then had Tahuhu caught by Winfield-Hill to seal the result with a thumping win that belied the competitive nature of the series.
