AUCKLAND (New Zealand), April 3: New Zealand debutant all-rounder Andre Adams struck twice in successive overs on Wednesday to send England plunging to a 78-run defeat in the third and final Test.

Adams removed the defiant James Foster for 23 then caught and bowled captain Nasser Hussain (82) with an acrobatic tumbling catch.

Chris Drum had Andy Caddick caught for four and Adams then dismissed Matthew Hoggard for two as England, chasing 312 for victory after Stephen Fleming declared at the overnight total of 269 for nine, succumbed for 233.

England could not muster a meaningful partnership, with the best of the innings being the 50 Michael Vaughan (36) and Mark Butcher (35) put on for the second wicket.

Marcus Trescothick went at 23 for 14 from a lazy shot when he was too slow in withdrawing his bat to a wide ball from Chris Drum.

Vaughan and Butcher played some cracking shots all around Eden Park and after an hour’s play England were 73 for one. But Vaughan then went playing a loose shot to Drum and nicking the ball to Fleming at first slip.

Butcher perished shortly before lunch when he got a ball that popped from Nathan Astle, who did a superb job of putting the brakes on the England scoring with his slow medium-pacers.

The ball hit the shoulder of Butcher’s bat and flew to substitute fielder Brooke Walker behind point.

That was the beginning of an England collapse.

Fleming brought back the first-innings bowling hero Daryl Tuffey, who had Graham Thorpe (3) caught behind and Andy Flintoff (0) bowled in the same over and England were suddenly 125 for five.

Thorpe’s wicket gave Adam Parore his 200th wicketkeeping dismissal in his 78th and final test. Hussain kept the scoring going with a number of boundaries before the interval which was taken at 154 for five, almost halfway to the target.

An intriguing afternoon began with Fleming dropping Hussain off the fourth ball of the session, the second time Fleming had given his opposite number a life in the series. The first one, in the first innings in Christchurch, ended with Hussain scoring 106 in difficult conditions and he could have scored another on Wednesday and guided England home had it not been for Adams.

Mark Ramprakash, batting with an injured groin he damaged batting in the first innings and using Butcher as a runner, had been out in the second over after lunch from Tuffey for two but Hussain and the resilient little wicketkeeper Foster carried on the fight.

The pair added 49 before Foster (23) gave Parore his 201st career catch. In the next over Hussain attempted to stop a shot and popped up a catch which Adams dived full length to take.

That, realistically, was the last England hope. Ashley Giles hit 21 not out but Caddick and Hoggard went cheaply and the match was New Zealand’s

Scoreboard

NEW ZEALAND (1st innings) 202 (C.Harris 71)