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Dismal batting cost New Zealand any chance of retaining the Chappell Hadlee Trophy in the deciding game at Bellerive Oval yesterday.
Chasing 282 for six on the back of another Ricky Ponting 100, New Zealand's reply had the resistance of jelly. It was a wretched performance as they tumbled to 168 in just 34 overs, losing by 114 runs handing Australia a 2-0 series win.
It was a dispiriting end to a series in which New Zealand were comprehensively dusted.
Openers Brendon McCullum and Jamie How played ordinary shots to ordinary Brett Lee deliveries inside the first five overs yesterday; Mathew Sinclair and Ross Taylor shaped across the line to be leg before wicket and left arm spinner Brad Hogg whipped out two wickets in four balls to reduce New Zealand to 88 for seven.
Only Scott Styris, with some pugnacious strokeplay in a lost cause, stood tall amid the wreckage, with 75 from 79 balls.
There were no excuses for a side who had insisted they were up for a final fling to retain a trophy they cherish.
Australia coped pretty well with a pitch which had a two-paced element to it. Ordinary batting did New Zealand in, and it wasn't even as if Australia's bowlers were at their ripsnorting best either.
The next time the transtasman rivals meet, New Zealand might consider handing Ponting an even hundred and be done with it.
The Australian skipper put a miserable Bellerive Oval record behind him to bang his fourth one-day century in his last five innings against New Zealand.
Ponting's ODI record on his home turf was 74 runs in five innings before yesterday But his last five ODI innings against New Zealand are 111, 104, 66, 107 not out and 134 not out - 522 runs at a phenomenal average of 174.
Ponting was far from flawless in the early stages, Kyle Mills troubling him with movement and bounce.
But once set, and most notably in tandem with Andrew Symonds with whom he shared a stroll-in-the-park 114 stand in 118 balls, it was plain sailing.
Jacob Oram was the saving grace with the ball, his first eight-over spell produced an excellent two for 18, putting a hold on Australia early on after Daniel Vettori had won his 13th toss in 17 attempts.
But he was without his best bowler from the opening game in Adelaide with Chris Martin replaced by Mark Gillespie.
Some selections don't make sense.
Dropping out of sorts Lou Vincent for Mathew Sinclair was understandable; dumping Martin another story altogether.
Martin, largely unwanted as a one-day bowler throughout his career, has decent pace and gets good batsmen out. He didn't get a chance in Sydney with the washout on Sunday and now he was gone again.
During the week Martin cut a confident figure, happy to be back in the ODI side and relishing another tilt at the Aussies.
Perhaps inevitably, Gillespie was the poorest of an average attack, save Oram. His eight overs cost 68.
Vettori adopted a rest and rotation policy with his bowlers and had some success with it early. He made six changes at one end in the first 23 overs.
But Ponting and Symonds moved things decisively Australia's way. Ponting completed his 25th ODI ton and Symonds eased his way to 50.
Brad Haddin and James Hopes chipped in as the Australian foot hit the accelerator. New Zealand's batsmen didn't even have a pedal to push.
