AP, Auckland :
Trent Boult and Matt Henry shared six wickets to destroy Australia’s top order and steer New Zealand to a 159-run win on Wednesday, taking a measure of revenge for defeat by its trans-Tasman rival in last year’s World Cup final.
In the opening game of the Chappell-Hadlee series, and the teams’ first meeting since the World Cup, New Zealand scored 307-8 after being sent in to bat, and Australia was never in the contest after slumping to 41-6 before being bowled out for 148 in 24.2 overs.
Martin Guptill set up New Zealand’s innings with 90, sharing in a rapid 79-run opening partnership with Brendon McCullum, who was playing his last game at Eden Park.
Henry Nicholls scored a well-paced 61 as New Zealand raced to 182-3 after 25 overs, but failed to capitalize on that start as the tail faltered against some tight Australian bowling.
“We pulled them back pretty well,” Australia captain Steve Smith said.
“I think 300 was around par on this ground but we lost early wickets again and weren’t able to capitalize.”
Guptill became the first man to strike a six onto the roof of Eden Park’s North Stand. He hit Guptill went on to hit four more sixes along with eight fours in his innings of 90 from 76 balls.
McCullum made 44, becoming the third New Zealander after Stephen Fleming and Nathan Astle to surpass 6,000 runs in ODIs.
Smith had elected to bowl on winning the toss based upon history which shows the chasing team usually wins at Eden Park, but Australia folded quickly, going six wickets down after nine overs.
“It was a really good performance having to bat first,” McCullum said. “As Smithy said we could have got more than we did but at halftime we were really happy with 300.
“I thought 280 was par on that wicket. It probably wasn’t as quick as what everyone expected. I think that was one of our tactical plays. We knew we were going to have to get as many runs as we could at the start of our innings because as the ball got older it was going to be a lot more difficult to score.”
Henry had Shaun Marsh caught at slip by Guptill for 5 when Australia was 10, then removed Smith for 18 at 33-2. New Zealand knew Smith has a tendency to play on when the ball swings so Henry served him a full delivery, ducking in and the Australian captain did just that.
The prized wicket was that of David Warner, almost a pantomime villain in New Zealand for his swagger and sledging. Boult produced a superb delivery to Warner which trapped the batsman on his crease and had him lbw for 12.
Then Henry completed the destruction of the Australian top order when he removed George Bailey (2) and Glenn Maxwell (0) with the total at 40.
Bailey did not make the most of a reprieve, having been dropped by Corey Anderson at mid-wicket a few balls earlier while Maxwell was brilliantly caught by Kane Williamson, who took a leaping, running, one-handed catch at extra cover. Boult returned to remove Mitch Marsh (0), caught at slip by McCullum at which point Australia had lost three wickets for two runs in 14 balls.
