Australia won the trans-Tasman battle and the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy after an average - but at times explosive - bowling performance saw them dismiss New Zealand for just 206 in their World Cup Group A match at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium in Nagpur.
There was a sombre mood before play, as both sides wore black arms bands and huddled together in a moving minute's silence in remembrance of those who tragically lost their lives in the Christchurch earthquakes. For New Zealand, there was so much at stake, a match against their traditional rivals for the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy, a chance to build on the momentum from their easy win over Kenya and the opportunity to bring just a little bit of cheer to those suffering back in New Zealand. Vettori admitted before the match that it had been an incredibly hard build up for the team, but his team would try and win for the people back home. Unfortunately, they couldn't match it with Australia and were soundly beaten.
Ricky Ponting won the toss and decided to bowl first, hoping to take advantage of the humidity in the air after some heavy rainfall in Nagpur overnight. Australia went in with the same XI that accounted for Zimbabwe, while New Zealand made one change with Jacob Oram being left out, replaced by Jamie How in a somewhat surprising selection.
Brett Lee had New Zealand struggling for runs with some tight bowling, but it was the erratic Shaun Tait who took the first wicket of the innings, having McCullum caught by Krejza for 16. It was a huge blow for New Zealand, McCullum attempting to smash a full delivery but not quite getting across to it and watching the edge fly to Krejza at third man. There was a brief glimmer of hope for McCullum as umpire Doctrove asked for a no ball review, but Tait just had some boot behind the line and McCullum had to go.
Mitchell Johnson replaced Tait, and like Tait had done earlier he sprayed the ball around, before finding his rhythm and striking twice in an over. His first wicket was a decent ball that shaped away from Jesse Ryder's lazy shot and found the edge, which was gratefully accepted by Brad Haddin, ending Ryder's aggressive innings of 25 which included six boundaries. James Franklin was promoted to number 5 but only lasted three balls, playing an awful shot slashing at a wide ball and edging to Haddin for a duck. Franklin may well have performed admirably for New Zealand last time they toured India, but number 5 is too high for a batsman of his calibre.
Ponting replaced Lee with Tait to try and pick up another wicket with fresh batsmen at the crease, and his plan worked beautifully with Tait striking with his fourth ball when Scott Styris played a horrible shot similar to Franklin's and presented Haddin with another simple catch. In Tait's next over he removed Ross Taylor with a fiery yorker that crashed into off stump. New Zealand were reeling at 73 for 6.
A promising partnership of 48 by How and Nathan McCullum was broken when Steve Smith trapped How in front, and that was followed by another good partnership of 56 between McCullum and Vettori, before Johnson and Brett Lee cleaned up the tail, bowling New Zealand out for 206 in the 26th over. Although a disappointing total, it was a reasonable fight back after their horrid start, but not enough on a fairly tame Nagpur pitch. Johnson finished with 4 wickets, Tait took 3 and Lee, Shane Watson and Smith grabbed one each.
The Australians made light work of the run chase, with Watson and Haddin taking advantage of the field being up during the Powerplay, putting on 133 from just 18 overs before Haddin tried one big shot too many and skied a Hamish Bennett slower ball to Franklin at deep midwicket and his innings ended on 55 from just 50 balls. Three balls later, Watson followed with yet another score in the 60s, this time being bowled by Bennett on 62, deceived by another slower ball that induced an ugly swipe across the line from Watson.
Ponting and Michael Clarke consolidated for Australia, happy to push the ball around and pick up the singles, before Ponting departed. Ponting would be disappointed not to have batted through the innings, being stumped when he charged a Southee ball that drifted down the leg side, McCullum removing the bails with some exceptional keeping and Ponting well and truly stranded.
Clarke and Cameron White saw Australia home, cruising to 207 for 3. In fairness, the pitch did seem to flatten out when Australia batted, but it was hardly menacing during New Zealand's innings, and Australia were able to score at will.
New Zealand's afternoon took a turn for the worse when Hamish Bennett appeared to injure his leg bowling at the end of the Australian innings. New Zealand's regular physio Dayle Shackel has returned to New Zealand to attend to his home which was badly damaged during the Christchuch earthquake, so they'll be hoping that Bennett's injury isn't serious. Styris also appeared to injure a finger while batting earlier in the day and didn't take to the field.
Australia's win sets them up, with their group match against Sri Lanka now likely to determine who finishes top and potentially gets the easier draw for the quarter finals, likely to be against the West Indies, Bangladesh or the Netherlands.
After the match Watson said he was glad that Ponting had won the toss and added "bowling first was a really good decision from the skipper, it was always going to do a bit early on". Johnson paid tribute to the bowling attack, stating that "we (Australia) have got those quick out and out bowlers like Lee and Tait, and good spinners as well. We've got a very balanced attack and it's working for us".
Mitchell Johnson was named Man of the Match, and Ponting said that he was "outstanding again today".
New Zealand will head to Motera to play Zimbabwe and Vettori said after that match that New Zealand needed to "move past this quickly and focus on our game against Zimbabwe". The loss shouldn't dent their chances of progressing to the quarter finals, but they'll want to avoid finishing fourth and facing off against the top side from Group B.
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