Related Links : Australia Tour of New Zealand 2009/10 | Australia Player Pages | New Zealand Player Pages | Scorecard of 1st ODI, Chappell-Hadlee Trophy at Napier
New Zealand pulled off a sensational victory in the first ODI at Napier in the final over of the match. Scott Styris kept his cool to steer his side to a magic win in company of Shane Bond who came up with two telling blows himself with the bat. The Kiwis chased down a high target of 276 with just the 2 wickets in hand against an express pace attack of the Australians.
Australia batting first got off to a racy start with 50 on the board in just 6 overs. They were brilliantly pegged back after that by some nagging medium pace of the Kiwis and were restricted at one stage to 172 for 5 in the 35th over. However, a responsible 59 off 59 balls from Michael Hussey ensured that there was no further collapse while Mitchell Johnson’s cameo of 21 not out from 11 balls provided the cushion for the bowlers. Tuffey was impressive with his 3 for 58 on what was a flat wicket. The Kiwis got a huge blow when Jacob Oram (7-0-29-1) was ruled out from any further part in the match when he badly damaged his knee.
The Black Caps missed the services of left arm spinner Daniel Vettori and in his absence, Ross Taylor got to Skipper New Zealand for the first time. The Kiwis in reply got to an ideal start through Brendon McCullum (45 from 43)and newbie Peter Ingram (40 from 41). Skipper Ross Taylor with his 71-ball 70 consolidated the innings and kept the Kiwis in the hunt.
Towards the end, the Aussies were firm favourites to win the match with the Kiwis losing wickets at regular intervals. It was a heated moment between Scott Styris and Mitchell Johnson that spurred the former to clinch the match. Styris smacked 7 fours and the winning six in an unbeaten 49 from 34 balls. Ross Taylor got the Man of the Match for his well paced knock that matched aggression with aggression.