AUSTRALIA v NEW ZEALAND

At Sydney, January 13 (day/night). Australia won by six wickets. Toss: New Zealand. Australia's victory was considerably more convincing than a margin of five balls to spare might suggest. Anchored by Marsh, who put on 70 in fourteen overs with Taylor for the first wicket and 100 in 25 with Jones for the second, their innings could afford to have Boon and Steve Waugh taking nine overs to score the last 24 runs. They hardly missed their captain, Border, who was resting a groin strain. New Zealand, choosing to bat first, had also begun well. Crowe and Reid, the latter coming into the side for Greatbatch, had 50 on the board in twelve overs, but apart from Jones the later batsmen struggled to keep up the momentum. In one seven-over spell late in the innings their scoring was limited to singles. O'Donnell's dismissal of Wright was his 104th wicket in one-day internationals, a record for an Australian bowler.

Attendance: 37,440.