Stokes smashes an England record 182 to help England defeat New Zealand by 181 runs.

By 181 runs, England 368 (Stokes 182, Malan 96, Boult 5-51, Lister 3-69) defeated New Zealand 187 (Phillips 72, Livingstone 3-16, Woakes 3-31).

Ben Stokes brushed aside any questions about his ability to play 50-over cricket after 14 months in ODI retirement at the KIa Oval. He hit his fourth century in the format off 76 balls, then went on to record the highest score by an Englishman in the format with 182 off 124 to set up a crushing win against New Zealand.

Stokes stepped out in the third over with Trent Boult swinging the new ball and England in peril at 13 for 2, but he and Dawid Malan established a third-wicket partnership of 199 in 165 balls. He unleashed a vicious assault on Lockie Ferguson, scoring 56 runs off the 30 balls he faced from him; Ferguson's nine overs totaled 80 runs.

Stokes began excitedly, sprinting down the pitch and skipping outside the leg stump to create space to play over the off side. When Ferguson entered the attack, he had 13 off 19 and immediately tried to take him on, hitting three boundaries in four balls - one with a heavy leading edge - in Ferguson's second over.

That was enough to get Stokes going, and he proceeded to play at a similar tempo to the one he used earlier this summer in the Ashes: coaxed and scuffed singles mixed with deliberate, disdainful swipes towards the bleachers. The best of the lot, a skip-down-and-swing off Glenn Phillips, was captured in the Pavilion's second tier.

Stokes chose to stand and deliver despite his knee pain. He had nine sixes, six of which came in his final 31 balls. When he holed out to square leg while attempting a tenth, the sell-out crowd stood to cheer the hero of England's 2019 World Cup win, no doubt filled with hope that he may yet inspire them to a successful title defence. India is a country.

"It's good to come back in after a while and contribute significantly to us winning the game," Stokes remarked. "Today was good for me personally, just to get back into the swing of 50-over cricket." We lost a couple fast wickets, and I wanted to go out and put some pressure on them. I had to check myself a few of times because I looked up and there were still 23-24 overs remaining... you have lot more time than you think.

"I didn't really know [about the record] until the bloke on the tannoy announced it - then I got out the next ball," he explained. "There were a couple of stages where I was scoring quite freely and felt like I wanted to keep going and going and going... in 50-over cricket, we always want to go out and put on big scores, but [it was a case of] realising how much more time I had."

Stokes missed the opening of New Zealand's innings, but said his knee is "getting better and better." "I just needed a little bit of treatment," he explained. Test matches are lengthier, although there is a break; one-day games do not. It's just different, yet these are the first. "The first three games have been excellent."

New Zealand's ostensible pursuit of 369 rapidly devolved into glorified middle practise. Chris Woakes bowled eight overs from the Pavilion End, concluding with 3 for 31 and ended the game as a contest; Phillips, who struck a career-best 72, was the only batter to reach 30 as New Zealand was dismissed for 187.

While Stokes stole front stage, this might have been the day England's World Cup roster was finalised. With Jason Roy ruled out for a third straight ODI after suffering his second back spasm in six days, Malan returned from parental leave and seized his opportunity. His 96 off 95 balls was his second half-century of the series and his seventh 50-plus performance in 20 One-Day Internationals.

When England announced their preliminary 15-man team a month ago, Malan seemed to be the backup hitter. Malan's status appeared vulnerable after being dumped by Trent Rockets in the Hundred and a shaky T20I series, not least with Harry Brook, who missed the first cut, presenting an attractive case.

But it's looking increasingly probable that Malan will play against New Zealand in England's World Cup opener on October 5 in Ahmedabad, probably as Jonny Bairstow's opening partner. Given his adaptability and Roy's spotty fitness record, Brook may likely push Roy to the remaining batting berth in the team if Malan is pencilled in for that role.

Jos Buttler and his teammates spoke after England's triumph at the Ageas Bowl on Sunday about "freeing ourselves up... trying to get back to being even more positive, even more aggressive." Malan and Stokes responded appropriately, putting up a 100-run stand in 15.1 overs; Malan attacked the new ball, hitting six clean boundaries in the opening ten overs.

Malan's draw was typically powerful, twice striking Ben Lister over square leg for four, and he sped into the 80s by lashing Kyle Jamieson over long-on. He strangled Boult down the leg side after getting a touch trapped as three figures approached, but he had built the ideal foundation at 212 for 3 after 30.1 overs.

England were unable to turn it into the 400-plus total that appeared certain, leaving 11 balls wasted as their lower order crumbled. Buttler shone momentarily for 38 off 24 balls, but Stokes' departure in the 45th over set in motion a collapse of 5 for 20; Boult, the pick of the New Zealand attack, secured his sixth ODI five-for by rearranging Gus Atkinson's stumps.

The ball provided some relief for New Zealand. With Mitchell Santner spraining his knee at the Ageas Bowl on Sunday and Ish Sodhi out, they depended on two allrounders in Phillips and Rachin Ravindra to bowl spin, while Jamieson and Lister will not play for them in the World Cup unless they are injured.

However, Stokes ensured that England capitalised on their weaker assault, hitting 59 from the 35 balls of spin he faced, including three big sixes that rendered Ravindra unplayable after his second over. He ultimately succumbed to Lister, but not before breaking Roy's mark for the highest ODI innings by an Englishman.

With Adil Rashid and Mark Wood both dressed in cotton wool - or, at the very least, luminous green bibs in the substitutes' dugout - England were also missing their two main bowlers in their defence, but it didn't matter: Woakes had Will Young caught behind and Henry Nicholls miscuing to square leg, and his inswinger rattled Tom Latham's stumps.

Devon Conway looked out of sorts for his 9 off 18 before being caught behind by Sam Curran and bowled by Moeen Ali with an arm ball to leave New Zealand 37 for 4. As the asking rate rose, Phillips fired a couple of pointless sixes; by the time he was lbw on review for the first of Liam Livingstone's three wickets, The Oval was half-empty.