†AUSTRALIA v NEW ZEALAND 1980-81

At Sydney, January 29, New Zealand won by 78 runs. New Zealand were given a great start to the best-of-five finals when a superb innings of 81 by Wright assured them of a commanding, if not quite invincible, total. Howarth also batted extremely well on a good pitch and the only batsman to fail was Coney. Australia"s seam bowlers seemed a trifle complacent, as if they had no great respect for their opponents. It was the same story when they batted. Having declined, with some carelessness, to 28 for four after ten overs they had almost no chance of winning, although brave innings from Greg Chappell and Border gave the New Zealanders anxious moments before the end. Hadlee was the most impressive of the New Zealand bowlers with five wickets, but McKechnie, a replacement for Troup, and Chatfield played important rôles.