Daniel Vettori, the New Zealand captain, railed against his batsmen for the second game in succession after their "soft dismissals" in Auckland yesterday handed Australia the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy New Zealand were 120 for one in the 20th over before their innings imploded to fold up for 238. Australia lost four wickets in reaching their rain-reduced target of 200 from 34 overs, winning with 17 balls to spare to take an unassailable 3-1 lead going into the final match of the one-day international series in Wellington on Saturday. "They were the same mistakes as the previous two games and it's really hard to expand on," said Vettori. "It was about not putting enough runs on the board, losing wickets at crucial times and putting ourselves under far too much pressure. When you do that against Australia you get yourself in trouble. "Most of the dismissals were relatively soft. They're just poor mistakes and whether it is the mental shift from aggressiveness to accumulation I'm not sure. They're mistakes that shouldn't happen."
Cameron White anchored the Australian triumph with an unbeaten 50 after a blistering 35-ball 50 from Ricky Ponting, and the victory, according to the Australian captain, has banished memories of a 3-0 defeat in New Zealand in 2007. "It doesn't matter how many games you've played in between, you always remember the last series, especially if it's a losing one," said Ponting. "That was on the eve of the World Cup and we were thoroughly outplayed. "With little time between the games it's been a good effort from us to turn things around and in the last two games play our best two." White, the man of the match, added: "I've been involved in a couple of losing series over here, so it's very nice to win this, it's a very nice feeling." arizvi@thenational.ae
New Zealand: B McCullum c White b Hauritz 61 M Guptill c Ponting b Watson 30 R Taylor c Hussey b Hopes 15 S Stewart c Watson b Hauritz 4 S Styris c&b Hopes 8 D Vettori lbw Johnson 12 G Hopkins c Haddin b Watson 20 J Franklin b Hauritz 10 D Tuffey c&b Harris 34 S Bond c Hauritz b Johnson 19 T Southee not out 1 Extras (9lb, 13w, 2nb) 24 Total (all out, 44.1 overs) 238 Fall of wickets: 1-63, 2-120, 3-128, 4-130, 5-152, 6-154, 7-177, 8-213, 9-236 Bowling R Harris 7-1-37-1 (1w) D Bollinger 5-0-34-0(2nb) M Johnson 8.1-0-40-2(4w) S Watson 6-1-34-2 J Hopes 10-0-38-2 (2w) M Hauritz 8-0-46-3 Australia (target revised to 200 in 34 overs): S Watson lbw Vettori 32 B Haddin c Styris b Bond 0 R Ponting lbw Vettori 50 C White not out 50 A Voges c Vettori b Franlin 34 M Hussey not out 28 Extras (6lb, 2w) 8 Total (for 4 wickets, 31.1 overs) 202 Fall of wickets: 1-2, 2-84, 3-85, 4-150 Bowling S Bond 6-0-28-1 (1w) T Southee 5.1-0-55-0 D Tuffey 5-0-38-0 (1w) S Styris 5-0-20-0 J Franklin 3-0-26-1