It was a humdinger of a three match series which the BLACKCAPS won in Brendon McCullum’s ODI swan-song.
Fire at the Garden of Eden
A nice day and a big crowd greeted the teams for the first round of this eagerly awaited trans-tasman bout.
Australia won the toss and gave the BLACKCAPS first crack with the bat - and boy did the hosts take it.
McCullum thrashed and bashed his way to 44 off 29 at the top with the scorecard reading 79-1 in the 11th over when he departed.
Martin Guptill picked up the slack, clubbing eight fours and five sixes, one of which landed on the North Stand roof, in a dominant 90 from 76 balls, before he was run out by Glen Maxwell.
He combined for a 100 run third wicket stand off just 72 balls with Henry Nicholls, as the BLACKCAPS powered their way to 307-8.
The stage was set for a big run chase, but it was Trent Boult and Matt Henry who stole the show.
Backed by a boisterous home crowd, the pair’s swing and skill tore through the Australian top order, reducing the visitors to 41-6 inside the first power play - effectively sealing the result.
Australia were eventually bowled out for 148 to lose by a whopping 159 runs, their second-biggest defeat to New Zealand.
The 146 balls it took the BLACKCAPS to dismiss their old rivals was the fewest ever for Australia in ODIs.
Capital punishment
The unchanged BLACKCAPS elected to bat and posted a decent total of 281, lead by 60 from Kane Williamson and several cameos throughout the innings.
A 122 run opening stand between the called up Usman Khawaja (50) and David Warner (98) had Australia cruising in reply, before a spell of 4 for 22 rocked the innings.
Then there was a moment of pure magic as Adam Milne produced arguably the catch of the summer.
Leaping high on the mid-wicket boundary he pulled in a one handed overhead screamer to send Matthew Wade packing and the visitors were all of a sudden struggling at 197-6.
That’d be as good as it got though as Mitchell Marsh (69*) and John Hastings (48*) hit Australia home in the 47th over to draw the series level heading to Hamilton.
Fairytale at Seddon
It would all come down to this, the series on the line in Brendon McCullum’s final game in the black shirt.
For the third straight match the BLACKCAPS were asked to set a total and McCullum (47) and Guptill (59) would once again get the hosts off to a flyer.
Grant Elliott made an important 50, but the BLACKCAPS lost their last five wickets for nine runs to be bowled out for 246.
Missing spearheads Southee and Boult, the bowling effort would go down as one of the BLACKCAPS finest in limited overs cricket.
Leg spinner Ish Sodhi would bowl a crucial spell through the middle to help derail the visitors innings, removing danger men Steve Smith and Glenn Maxwell in the same over.
Then a moment which would go down in Chappell-Hadlee folklore.
Mitchell Marsh, the last Aussie hope, succumbing to a controversial Matt Henry caught and bowled.
From there the visitors would be bowled out for 191 as the BLACKCAPS recorded a memorable 55 run victory to retain the Chappell-Hadlee trophy.
What a night, what a win - what a sign off for the great Kiwi captain!
