KEY POINTS:
Ho Hum, another one-day international, another botched opportunity. Such is life these days.
The side who have made an art-form of changing everything this season apart from their results were at it again last night, losing their third tri-nations one-dayer, against Australia, by two wickets.
New Zealand even provided a variation on the usual theme of batting chaos this time, introducing a slap-stick performance in the field that sank any last hopes of stunning the world champions.
Charged with defending a mediocre total of 218, New Zealand initially had Australia in peril at 17 for three after some good early work from James Franklin and Michael Mason.
But the early advantage was soon squandered by a succession of fielding blunders, by far the worst being Franklin's awful miss off a Michael Clarke skied top-edge when the Australian right-hander was on 17 and the score was 59 for three.
Not only did the straightforward, albeit steepling, chance rob New Zealand of much-needed momentum, it was also a setback for their impressive new paceman Mark Gillespie, who richly deserved the success.
But more clangers were to follow. As Clarke made the most of his let-off to post 75 off 111 balls, Gillespie, Daniel Vettori, Brendon McCullum and Hamish Marshall were all guilty of making costly mistakes.
Gillespie and Vettori conceded boundaries, McCullum missed Clarke again when he was on 42, and Vettori and Marshall combined to bungle the seemingly straightforward run-out of Michael Hussey.
By the time Australia had accepted these offerings, the game was almost gone for New Zealand, as Clarke and Hussey combined in a fourth-wicket partnership worth 90.
Hussey, man-of-the-match against England on Friday night, continued on from where he left off at the Gabba, guiding his side home with a calculated 65 off 73 balls.
When he left to a standing ovation from the 36,269-strong SCG crowd - with eight balls remaining in the innings - his career average stood at 79.94.
On a pitch that sported a juicy, green stripe of grass down the line of the stumps, New Zealand opted for an abrupt turnaround on the question of McCullum, demoting their wicket-keeper back to No 7 and opening instead with Stephen Fleming and Nathan Astle.
It was another unsuccessful experiment. Lee was far too good for Astle and Marshall; Fleming batted like a man who'd been rested for three games, and when Ross Taylor fell to an optimistic shot off Clark, New Zealand were staring at a sub-150 total.
Craig McMillan, though, gave his World Cup prospects a genuine boost as he worked with first Fulton and then McCullum to score 89 off 87 balls, including three sixes.
Dropped last year because of weight problems and without a century since 2002, the right-hander received a massive let-off when he was caught at the wicket off Glenn McGrath on 1, and given not out despite the presence of a distinct noise and a noticeable deflection.
But fortune caught up with him in the end when he was adjudged caught and bowled off a delivery from McGrath that appeared a shade above his waist _ and therefore a no-ball - at just the time he was setting himself for a final assault.
It was McMillan's 26th half-century in 181 games, and he showed the benefit of the experience while collecting runs all around the clock, at one stage stringing together 21 consecutive scoring shots.
As for Fleming, who last night became the first man to captain a side in 200 ODIs, the result would have been a bitter pill to swallow - New Zealand's 18th loss to Australia in their past 20 outings, their sixth loss in nine games, and their third in a row.
Fleming said the Black Caps' performance was not good enough.
"We're scrapping but we're nowhere near as good as we can be. We still nearly got there."
Scoreboard
NEW ZEALAND
S Fleming c Hussey b Clark 12
N Astle c Gilchrist b Lee 0
H Marshall c Gilchrist b Lee 0
R Taylor c Hussey b Clark 26
P Fulton c Hayden b Clark 19
C McMillan c and b McGrath 89
B McCullum lbw b McGrath 15
D Vettori c Ponting b Clark 6
J Franklin c Hayden b McGrath 18
M Gillespie not out 6
M Mason b Bracken 4
Extras (2b, 12lb, 5w, 4nb) 23
Total (47.4 overs) 218
Fall: 5 (Astle), 7 (Marshall), 38 (Fleming), 53 (Taylor), 84 (Fulton), 126 (McCullum), 136 (Vettori), 193 (Franklin), 205 (McMillan), 218 (Mason).
Bowling: B Lee 10-1-45-2 (2nb, 1w), N Bracken 8.4-2-33-1, G McGrath 10-1-24-3 (1nb), S Clark 10-1-54-4 (1nb), A Symonds 8-0-44-0 (4w), C White 1-0-6-0.
AUSTRALIA
A Gilchrist c McCullum b Franklin 3
M Hayden c Taylor b Mason 0
M Clarke c Taylor b Vettori 75
R Ponting lbw b Mason 5
A Symonds b Vettori 38
M Hussey not out 65
C White c Fulton b Gillespie 5
B Lee c Marshall b Gillespie 2
N Bracken c Taylor b McMillan 14
S Clark not out 1
Extras (6lb, 4w, 6nb) 16
Total (for 8 wkts, 48.4 overs) 224
Fall: 6 (Gilchrist), 6 (Hayden), 17 (Ponting), 77 (Symonds), 167 (Clarke), 175 (White), 198 (Lee), 217 Bracken).
Bowling: M Mason 10-2-46-2 (2nb, 2w), J Franklin 10-1-47-1 (1nb,1w), M Gillespie 10-2-34-2 (3nb, 1w), D Vettori 10-0-41-2, N Astle 2.4-0-22-0, C McMillan 6-0-28-1.
