KEY POINTS:
So the once-impervious Australian cricket empire has crumbled.
Don't kid yourself. Just as it is unwise to think John Bracewell and co are World Cup favourites on the back of a long overdue victory over the champions, it's premature to write this Australian team's obituary.
Yes, there are cracks. Take Ricky Ponting, Adam Gilchrist, Brett Lee, Andrew Symonds and Michael Clarke out of any side and you're fundamentally weaker, but it is up to New Zealand to open the gaps even wider today. There is an opportunity to remind Australia of something they haven't felt in two years - self doubt.
You should not lose by 10 wickets to a team you've defeated 20 times in the past 22 games without doing a bit of navel-gazing. You shouldn't suddenly capitulate to an English team with no one-day pedigree and who'd been kicked from Perth to Paddington in the previous two months without beginning to question your personnel.
At the moment, Australia's problems remain nothing more than a Ponting century or the likes could not fix, but another loss or two in New Zealand and the doubt will creep in.
The rest of the eight "division one" teams finalising their World Cup preparations will be learning too that, when Australia are cut, they bleed.
One thing stand-in captain Michael Hussey hasn't done, however, is look for false positives from the shell of that gruesome defeat.
"It was a very disappointing loss, there's no question about that. We just weren't up to scratch, really."
There was no seeking of excuses by pointing to absent friends.
"This was the best team we could put on the park at this time," was all he would say.
You could probably argue that point. Certainly there was no bowler in Wellington who looked as good as Stuart Clark has this summer, and you can include the legendary Glenn McGrath in that as well, but that's Australia's problem. New Zealand's task is to exploit it.
They need to borrow a philosophy from their neighbours and remind them at every step of their shortcomings. Mitchell Johnson can be attacked, so can Brad Hogg. Shane Watson should be reminded that currently he is nothing more than a poor man's Jacob Oram.
It is not often that you find Australia teetering, so why not push them over? Then we really can start writing about the decline and fall.
