WELLINGTON - Australia, propped up by 98 from David Warner, held their nerve to beat New Zealand by four wickets to win the second ODI in Wellington on Saturday and send the series to a decider.
After Warner's dismissal, Australia were still 90 runs short of their target with an unbeaten 69 from Mitchell Marsh and John Hastings not out 48, getting them over the line. Warner was nudging his sixth ODI century when he was undone by New Zealand's match ace Mitchell Santner, but by then he had done enough to ensure the world champions were in a dominant position.
Australia lost six wickets as they chased down New Zealand's 281-9 with 21 balls to spare. After New Zealand won the first match by 159 runs the series will now go to a decider in Hamilton on Monday. "We came here to get back in the series and we've done that so hopefully that will give us great momentum going into Monday," Marsh said.
Scoreboard
NEW ZEALAND:
M Guptill c Khawaja b Marsh 31
B McCullum b Boland 28
K Williamson c Smith b Zampa 60
H Nicholls c Wade b Marsh 4
G Elliott c Maxwell b Zampa 32
C Anderson c Wade b Hazlewood 16
L Ronchi c Marsh b Boland 19
M Santner not out 45
A Milne c Smith b Hazlewood 36
M Henry b Hazlewood 0
T Boult not out 2
EXTRAS: (lb4, w4) 8
TOTAL: (9 wickets; 50 overs) 281
FOW: 1-35, 2-88, 3-95, 4-158, 5-164, 6-193, 7-205, 8-266, 9-266.
BOWLING: Hazlewood 10-0-61-3, Hastings 10-1-42-0, Boland 10-0-61-2, Zampa 10-0-57-2, Marsh 6-0-30-2, Maxwell 4-0-26-0.
AUSTRALIA:
U Khawaja c&b Santner 50
D Warner lbw Santner 98
S Smith c Ronchi b Henry 2
G Bailey b Henry 0
G Maxwell b Boult 6
M Marsh not out 69
M Wade c Milne b Santner 2
J Hastings not out 48
EXTRAS: (lb2, w6) 8
TOTAL: (6 wickets; 46.3 overes) 283
FOW: 1-122, 2-133, 3-133, 4-144, 5-191, 6-197.
BOWLING: Boult 9.3-0-66-1, Henry 10-0-57-2, Williamson 2-0-16-0, Milne 9-0-58-0, Santner 10-0-47-3, Elliott 3-0-20-0, Anderson 3-0-17-0.
TOSS: New Zealand
UMPIRES: Billy Bowden, Sundaram Ravi
TV UMPIRE: Ian Gould (ENG)
MATCH REFEREE: Chris Broad