Australia Claw One Back

Australia won just their 2nd ODI of the summer last night as Brad Haddin and Michael Clarke lead the green and golds to a 32 run victory over New Zealand.

Daniel Vettori won the toss and sent Australia in to bat, but may have regretted that soon after as Haddin and Clarke soon plundered the Kiwis bowling attack to all corners of the ground.

Clarke was the first to go when the score was 135, meanwhile Haddin carried on to score his maiden ODI century in front of his home New South Wales crowd.  Mike Hussey found his way back in to form with a well-made half century and formed a crucial partnership with rookie Callum Fergusson who looked impressive in his 28 run knock.

The Black Caps actually did well to restrict Australia to 301, as they were staring down the barrel of a massive total when Haddin and Clarke were in full flight.

Wicketkeeper Brendon McCullum was hit on the shoulder by a Kyle Mills delivery when standing up to the stumps as the ball reared up off one of the cracks. He was in obvious discomfort for the rest of the match and will have a scan before game four in Adelaide.

The same SCG pitch had plagued an Australia v South Africa test a few weeks earlier as well.

New Zealand lost two early wickets and were playing catch up from there on.  Peter Fulton (40) joined Grant Elliot for an 80 run partnership to get the Black Caps back on track, but further failures from Neil Broom, Mills and Vettori nearly slammed the door shut on any hopes of victory.

Until an injured Brendon McCullum came to the crease.

Batting down the order due to his injury, McCullum smashed a quickfire 36 from 27 balls and Elliot began to hit out as the Kiwis got themselves back in to the game. Elliot made his maiden ODI century after taking the Australian bowlers apart in the batting power play.

But in the end, the early wickets proved too costly and the Kiwis fell 32 runs short.

The series moves to Adelaide on Tuesday where a win for the New Zealanders will send the Chappell-Hadlee trophy back to New Zealand.