Scorecard | Graphical Analysis
Australia bowled out New Zealand for 97 runs in the third one-day international of the tri-series, at the Nahar Singh stadium in Faridabad, and then knocked off the runs with eight wickets and 33 overs to spare.
Matthew Hayden celebrated his 32nd birthday in style, scoring his 18th half-century in one-dayers and hitting the winning runs.
Earlier, Adam Gilchrist smacked 29 runs off 18 balls before he was caught and bowled by Jacob Oram in the sixth over as Australia raced away to 54 for 1 off eight overs at lunch.
Soon after lunch, Matthew Hayden and Ricky Ponting almost finished the job before Tuffey snapped up Ponting at the wicket for 12 and the score a convincing 90 for 2.
Australia won emphatically, scoring 101-2, and pocketed a bonus point to set up an interesting day-night encounter against India in Mumbai on Saturday.
In the morning, Brad Williams returned figures of 4 for 22, but the chief architect of Australia's demolition job was Nathan Bracken, who picked three prize wickets of Chris Nevin, Stephen Fleming and Jacob Oram.
On the eve of New Zealand's tie against Australia, skipper Stephen Fleming had said that playing Australia in India is easier. An hour into the match, Fleming was chewing his words with half his side back in the hutch for a mere 21 runs on the board.
Why Fleming chose to bat after he realized that the bowlers would have no respite on the track that had a 250-plus total there for the taking is a mystery. And this after he said that being a 9 am start there would be some moisture in the wicket for the first hour.
Were the scars of the World Cup encounter still haunting Fleming?
Having bowled the Aussies out for 208 -- courtesy a career-best performance from Shane Bond of 6-23 -- the Kiwis were bundled out for 112.
Fleming was probably swayed by the fact that off the 25 wins against Australia, the Kiwis won 19 batting first.
Aussie bowlers Nathan Bracken and Brad Williams swung the ball to great effect and optimized the juice in the wicket. It was a great comeback considering the thrashing they received from the Indian batters on Sunday.
Chris Nevin was trapped in front by Bracken off the second ball of the match for a blob. And Fleming, after struggling to read the swing and movement off the wicket, edged Bracken at the wicket for 2. The Kiwis were 11 for 2 and in the very next over, when Lou Vincent slogged at Williams without moving his feet, another Kiwi was gone for a blob and the score read 11-3.
With the ball swinging generously, Williams found the edge of Scott Styris's bat fly to Ricky Ponting at first slip. The Kiwis were struggling to middle anything and 20 for 4 soon became 21 for 5 when Jacob Oram edged Bracken to the keeper for yet another duck.
Bracken's first spell read 8-2-21-3. The scores of the five Kiwi batsmen read 0,2,0,7,0. The match was reduced to a no-contest even as crowds poured in from Delhi to the Faridabad stadium.
Umpire S Venkatraghavan failed to hear a faint nick off Craig McMillan's bat that carried to keeper Gilchrist off Bracken when the score was 28-5.
Chris Harris and McMillan pottered around to put together a 54-run partnership off 96 balls before Ian Harvey rapped Harris on the pads bang in front of the stumps.
McMillan followed soon after when Andy Bichel trapped him in front for 24 the highest score of the innings -- and the Kiwis plunged to 77-7 and were in danger of being dismissed for their lowest ever total against Australia.
With the Aussies going all out for the kill, they strayed in their line and conceded 18 wides and 32 extras -- the highest scorer for New Zealand -- but picked up wickets at regular intervals for the extras to hurt them.
Keeper Brendon McCullum pulled Williams but Damien Martyn at square leg snapped the ball headed for the fence millimeters off the ground. Martyn made it look so effortless that for a fleeting moment the bowler was unsure if the catch was taken.
Daniel Vettori was the fourth LBW victim of the innings when Harvey caught him at the crease. Incidentally, it was the fourth duck of the innings as the Kiwis were struggling to touch the 100-run mark. (80-9) Paul Hitchcock was the last wicket to fall for 10 as Williams picked up his fourth wicket to finish with four wickets for 22 runs.
The Kiwi batters were guilty of pushing at deliveries and playing rank-bad shots. The Aussie opening bowlers were brilliant in the first spell but even they sprayed the ball around, over pitching it and bowling too short at times. More than bowling an immaculate line, the Kiwi batters made the Aussie bowlers look unplayable. After having been in India for the past month, the Kiwi performance was reprehensible.
If the 32 extras are taken away from the total, the Kiwi batters scored just 65 runs and eight Kiwis failed to reach double figures.
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