The kiwis were on a roll when it beat the world champions Australia by 5 wickets at Auckland on Sunday. The Aussies put up an impressive 336 to have rebounded from their humiliating 10-wicket loss in Wellington on Friday.

New Zealand won the toss and elected to field on a pitch full of runs. The Aussies batting first lost openers Jaques and Hayden soon but a brilliant 130 partnership between stand in captain Hussey and Hodge got them passed the 300 mark. Hussey was in full flow hitting 8 boundaries and 6 sixes in his innings of 105 whereas Hodge made a quick fire unbeaten 97 in 86 balls hitting 10 fours and 2 sixes. Aussies ended up at 336-4 in their allotted 50 overs.

The kiwis got off to a shaky start when they lost Fleming for 6, if it was Hussey for the Aussies it was Ross Taylor for the kiwis who plundered 16 boundaries while making 117 of 127 balls. Taylor was aptly supported by Fulton who later joined him, but once Taylor fell the asking rate was still tough and McGrath was just going thru the motions.

MoM Taylor’s dismissal got in Craig McMillan who increased the run-rate with a blazing 52 off just 30 balls before Fulton and Brendon McCullum finished it off, with the pair slamming 11 runs off the penultimate over from Glenn McGrath to seal the win.

Keeper McCullum provided the finishing touches to the match with 8 balls to spare to take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the Chappell-Hadlee series and condemn the Australians to a fourth straight defeat.

With this loss the Aussies have lost their place at the top of the world one-day international rankings taking them to second place.

The Australians take on the kiwis at Hamilton in the final three match series on Tuesday where the world champions will look for a consolation win to avoid a 3-0 wash out.

Brief Scores

Australia 336- 4 in 50 overs lost to New Zealand 338-5 in 48.4 overs