Guptill's average among worst against Australia

Martin Guptill has scored 305 in 18 innings against Australia. Photo / Getty

Australia made good on their pre-series promise to rattle Martin Guptill as the New Zealand opener's poor trans-Tasman record plunged to new lows.

Guptill was out for a 12-ball duck on day three of the second Test as the visitors pressed for the No.1 Test ranking in Christchurch.

The 29-year-old is one of the most damaging ODI batsmen in the world, having topped the list of run-scorers at the 2015 World Cup.

But Guptill continues to struggle when he puts on the whites.Especially against Australia.

Guptill's trans-Tasman average is 16.94 from 18 knocks.

Six other NZ players have poorer averages against Australia over a similar stretch, with Matthew Sinclair the only specialist batsman among them.

"We did get the better of him in Australia. He plays a lot differently in Tests compared to one-dayers," Hazlewood said before the first Test.

"He's quite confident in limited-overs games.

"But I think he's still a bit uncertain in the Test arena so we'll be looking to exploit that again and stay on top of him as we've done in Australia."

Guptill has played five Tests against Australia in 2015-16, managing just 163 runs.

NEW ZEALAND'S LOWEST TEST AVERAGES V AUSTRALIA (MINIMUM 15 INNINGS)
1.33 - Chris Martin (20 runs from 21 inns)
6 - Danny Morrison (72 runs from 16 inns)
10.46 - Lance Cairns (136 runs from 15 inns)
10.57 - Ian Smith (201 runs from 21 inns)
14.82 - Matthew Sinclair (252 runs from 17 inns)
15.27 - Tim Southee (275 runs from 20 inns)
16.94 - Martin Guptill (305 runs from 18 inns).