England book Women's World Cup semi-final spot courtesy of Nat Sciver century

England 284-9, New Zealand 209 (England win by 75 runs): A fifth successive victory for Heather Knight's side earned them a place in the last four

England join Australia and South Africa in the last four of the Women's World Cup (Getty)

Nat Sciver struck her second century of the Women’s World Cup to help England to their best ever ODI score against New Zealand of 284/9, which ultimately proved to be far too many for Suzie Bates' side to chase down.

The win confirmed England’s place in the World Cup semi-finals next week, where they will be joined by Australia and South Africa, who both also won on Wednesday. New Zealand and India will play each other in Derby on Saturday to settle the final semi-final spot.

“We obviously want to finish top, said Sciver. “We want to go to Bristol and play the West Indies and put in a good performance. Winning is a habit.”

Having won the toss England had made a rather subdued start to their innings losing three wickets in the first 14 overs with only 52 runs on the board. Lauren Winfield, Sarah Taylor and Heather Knight all went cheaply, but that brought Sciver to the wicket to join Tammy Beaumont, who was timing the ball nicely.

Sciver hit 129 off only 111 balls for England (Getty)

The pair rebuilt the England innings with great aplomb, hitting bad balls for four and running well between the wickets to keep the scoreboard ticking over. They brought up their 100 partnership in the 33rd over, both having gone past the 50 mark.

Shortly after Leigh Kasperek was guilty of dropping Sciver at backward square – the only chance she offered. She was on 58 at the time and went on to score a classy 129 off 111 balls. She and Beaumont added 170 for the fourth wicket, with Beaumont perishing for a well-made 93.

“Me and Tammy worked well together,” said Sciver, “hitting different areas, so it must have been hard to bowl at us. Within the batting line-up there is more confidence within the group. You can back your partner and batters to come in to do the job. It takes the pressure off in the middle.”

The White Ferns ultimately fell short with the bat (Getty)

After Sciver fell in the 47th over England’s tail failed to reach the 300 score that they should have done, losing four wickets for 15 runs in the last four overs, but ultimately it made little difference to the result.

New Zealand had maintained a reasonable pace upfront through Bates (44) and Amy Satterthwaite (35), after the early demise of Rachel Priest. But when Alex Hartley (3/44) spun one past the advancing Bates and Sarah Taylor removed the bails, the game turned.

Satterthwaite followed shortly after caught and bowled by Marsh, in the team replacing Hazell. New Zealand never really got into the game after that, losing wickets regularly until Katie Perkins (43*) put up some stoic resistance with the tail, taking the White Ferns through to 209 all out in the 45th over.