AUSTRALIA'S World Cup plans appear on the verge of disintegration with a negative injury prognosis for Brett Lee followed by a shambolic, record loss to New Zealand in the first Chappell-Hadlee match at Westpac Stadium tonight.
The second string Australian batting line-up was rolled for 148 by Shane Bond on a juicy wicket before Kiwi openers Lou Vincent (73 not out, 87 balls) and Stephen Fleming (70no off 76) careered to victory in just 27 overs, inflicting Australia's first-ever 10-wicket loss in a one day international.

Fittingly it was Vincent, an outspoken critic of the Australians, who completed the rout by hitting Mitchell Johnson for a massive six backward of square leg.

A crowd of 19,214 derived great pleasure from the Aussie baiting, and they will be delighted to know that New Zealand now holds the double for heaviest Australian one day defeats, having crushed their neighbours by 206 runs (7-276 v 70 all out) at Adelaide in 1986.

It was also the first time Australia has lost a trio of matches in four years - they slipped up in three dead rubbers in the West Indies in 2003 having taken a 4-0 lead.

Lastly, defeat leaves the bedraggled tourists needing to win both remaining matches to maintain their standing as the world's top-ranked limited overs side.

That incentive had been of little use when the Australians batted.

Lacking Ricky Ponting, Andrew Symonds and Michael Clarke, Australia never looked comfortable once Kiwi captain Stephen Fleming chose to field first on a surface affected by overnight rain.

Bond claimed two wickets in his first spell and took a brilliant catch from his own bowling in the second to finish with handsome figures of 5-23.

Daniel Vettori (2-26) and Mark Gillespie (2-27) did not allow Bond's work to go astray.

A sole negative for the home side was a fractured finger to allrounder Jacob Oram, who suffered the injury when catching Mitchell Johnson.

Stand-in Australian captain Michael Hussey (42 from 96 balls) was the only player to approach a meaningful score, but even he was out in underwhelming fashion, scooping part-timer Craig McMillan to mid off.

Already smarting from the loss of a crippled Lee, who admits he is only a 50-50 chance to be fit for the World Cup, the Australians were further incapacitated by news that Michael Clarke would not play after failing to recover from a hip complaint.

Fellow New South Welshman Phil Jaques took his place, but was on his way within two overs as Bond enjoyed the advantage of a damp wicket that offered treacherous seam movement.

Unnerved by a series of balls cutting away from him, Jaques lashed out at a short and wide one, only managing to ladle it to Vettori at wide mid off.

Batting at three in place of Ponting, Brad Haddin lost his off stump while aiming a drive at Bond's 140kmh off-break.

Matthew Hayden and Hussey spent 85 balls over the next 29 runs, despite the powerplays, and on 14 Hayden pushed at Gillespie for Fleming to take a simple catch at slip.

Vettori delivered a fine spell, and on 22 Brad Hodge attempted to cut one too close to his body and stumps, the resultant edge clasped after a juggle by Fleming.

The rest fell away - Cameron White unfortunate to fall via Bond's superlative one-handed caught and bowled, but Hussey, Shane Watson, Johnson and Nathan Bracken were all out to low percentage strokes as the runrate refused to climb.

Needing early wickets, Bracken and Glenn McGrath found little of the earlier deviation, and all hope was extinguished when Hodge dropped Fleming off Johnson with the score at 81.

AustraliaNews.com.au

WELLINGTON (Reuters) - South Africa have taken over from Australia as the world's top-ranked team in one-day international cricket after New Zealand took an unassailable 2-0 lead in the Chappell-Hadlee series in Auckland on Sunday.

The hosts chased down Australia's total of 336 for a second straight victory in the best-of-three series to demote the visitors from the top of the rankings for the first time since they were introduced in October 2002.

South Africa recently beat Pakistan 3-1 in a home one-day series to edge closer to the Australians, who were also beaten by England in the tri-series finals at home a week ago

Third One Day International
Hamilton
Australia 346-5 Innings Complete (M L Hayden 181 no, S R Watson 68) v New Zealand 350-9 (C D McMillan 117, B B McCullum 86 no, P G Fulton 51)
New Zealand beat Australia by 1 wicket

New Zealand produced another extraordinary run chase to grab a thrilling one-wicket victory against Australia to seal a 3-0 series whitewash in the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy, on a record-breaking day in Hamilton.

A downtrodden Australia side looked to have bounced back thanks to opener Matthew Hayden's epic knock of 181 not out - the highest one-day score ever by an Australian.

Hayden carried his bat despite breaking his toe and needing a runner just after his century, to help the Aussies record another challenging total of 346-5 from their 50 overs.

New Zealand's top order then crumbled to 41-4 as the Aussies looked to have the game in the bag, until Craig McMillan and Brendon McCullum took over with two huge innings' of their own.

McMillan was back to his best as he fired the quickest one-day hundred ever by a New Zealander en route to his 117, while McCullum finished the game off in style despite wickets falling as he got them across the line in the final over with just a wicket in hand.

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