New Zealand has limped to 183 in 45 overs as Australia flexed the muscle of their attack in the World Cup final.
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Remembering the second innings carnage of the pool match, which finished in a one-wicket New Zealand victory, it is too
early to predict the hosts will coast to the target.
The last time a team made 183 in a World Cup final they won by 43 runs, as India did against the West Indies in 1983.
However, New Zealand swing bowlers Tim Southee and Trent Boult will need to quickly find something convenient in the Melbourne air to have any chance of securing a maiden trophy.
In front of a bulging Melbourne Cricket Ground the hosts put the New Zealanders under hyperbaric chamber-type pressure.
The final was the first time at least one of New Zealand's top three batsmen had failed to get past 38 at the tournament.
At 39 for three in the 13th over, after Brendon McCullum (0), Martin Guptill (15) and Kane Williamson (12) had succumbed to Australia's pace venom, New Zealand's position looked precarious.
Mitchell Starc finished with two for 20 off eight overs, to top the wicket-takers for the tournament with 22, Mitchell Johnson took three for 30 from nine and James Faulkner delivered three for 36 from nine, highlighted by the dexterity of his slower ball.
Ross Taylor and Grant Elliott righted the early damage, which was testament to the team's belief that they can resurrect a total from the worst of circumstances.
A 111-run fourth wicket partnership from 137 balls was not enough to resurrect an innings bookended by collapse. New Zealand lost their last six wickets for 33 runs in 10 overs.
At least Elliott, with 83 off 82 balls, and Taylor 40 off 72, gave some cause for hope until Faulkner had them caught behind.
Starc and Johnson's white line fever provided relentless accuracy and aggression. In addition, their extra pace meant the New Zealanders struggled to adjust shots in time.
Before this match, Starc had 20 wickets at 10.20 with the best economy rate (3.65) for anyone bowling more than seven overs. He backed up the menace demonstrated in his six for 28 at Eden Park in a hostile opening spell of four overs where he took one for eight.
The wicket of McCullum with the fifth ball of the game set a tone which resonated, until Taylor and Elliott briefly steadied the innings.
Johnson took over in the ninth over and offered no opportunity to release the pressure which, for the New Zealanders, was as much as they have experienced over the last seven weeks.
Johnson plodded into his run-up, face furrowed with concentration and 'tache bristling. His power produced plenty of deliveries in the hallway of hesitation followed by his accustomed look of indignity when following-through. His first victim was Kane Williamson who shaped into what almost looked a premeditated defence. The ball appeared to move away to the off stump and the ball lobbed into Johnson's hands.
After second spells of two overs which conceded 16 runs between them, Starc and Johnson resumed their convincing display in their third return to the bowling crease against the middle and lower order.
