Wicketkeeper Amy Jones and Charlie Dean rescued England in the opening ODI against the White Ferns to secure a four-wicket win at the Basin Reserve in Wellington.
After dominating the T20I series, England were in serious trouble on Monday, chasing New Zealand's target of 208 runs in the first of three one-dayers.
White Ferns skipper Amelia Kerr snared the key wicket of middle order batter Danni Wyatt to send England reeling at 79-6 in the 16th over, still needing another 129 runs for victory.
The Kiwis hoped to run through the England tail until the remarkable seventh wicket partnership of 134 runs from the experienced Jones and Dean saw England home with 52 balls to spare.
Jones scored an unbeaten 92 and Dean 42 not out in an unbroken stand.
Jones told TVNZ she rated her innings of 92 off 83 balls with 10 fours as one of her best
"I was trying to be as positive as possible, and when the ball was in my area just back myself. I've been doing a bit of work on my mindset going into run chases and I felt like that worked."
"There are always moments and it was probably when Deans and Jones walked out to bat." Kerr told TVNZ.
"It was kind of one more wicket and we were right in the game and we were into their tail.
"I thought they (Jones and Dean) both batted incredibly, their partnership was outstanding and we didn't have any answers to break that."
England won the toss and asked New Zealand to bat first.
New Zealand's opening partnership between Suzie Bates and Bernadine Bezuidenhout signalled a positive start.
Bates departed on 50 after bringing up her 34th ODI half-century and her fourth against England.
Bezuidenhout was the next to go on 35 off 62, before a batting collapse saw New Zealand limp to 207 without batting their full complement of overs.
England lead the series 1-0 ahead of the second match in Hamilton on Thursday.
