Australia unleashed its battery of big guns to subdue a momentarily competitive New Zealand side which was beaten by six wickets in the opening Twenty20 international at Westpac Stadium in Wellington on Friday.
After battling to come to grips with pace far superior to anything it experienced at the hands of Pakistan and Bangladesh, New Zealand could muster only 118 runs in its 20 overs after deciding to bat first while Australia needed just 16 overs to achieve victory.
Against a team as finely-honed as Australia after its recent diet of limited overs play, it was never going to be enough. And the skipper Michael Clarke and David Hussey settled down to add 67 runs before Hussey fell to Nathan McCullum for 46 from 36 balls. Clarke was unbeaten on 18 while Cameron White hit the last 11 runs to secure the win.
Clarke and Hussey denied New Zealand the one slim chance it had to apply pressure.
It came, albeit briefly, when Shane Bond fired up and the first three Australian wickets fell for one run, with David Warner and Mitchell Johnson bowled by the New Zealand speedster. Bond ended with 2-32 from his four overs.
However, Australia's greater bowling depth saw it apply more pressure through Shaun Tait (2-21), Dirk Nannes (2-22), Johnson (3-19) and Shane Watson (2-23).
Tait fired up into the mid-150kms from his first over. He removed danger man Brendon McCullum off the fourth ball, while Johnson came in as first change to claim Peter Ingram's wicket first ball.
Johnson was a little lucky to win umpire Brent Bowden's support for the leg before wicket decision against Ross Taylor who was clearly outside off-stump when he was struck on his foot.
Of the New Zealanders only Martin Guptill, who hit 30 from 29 balls, and James Franklin who hit 43 from 42, made a significant impression with the bat. Franklin's problem was that he took too long to find his scoring groove while Guptill simply lacked another big hitter at the other end.
With such a low target to chase, New Zealand was always going to struggle to contain the visitors and Clarke and David Hussey took their time to work the ball around knowing they had balls to spare. Hussey was quick to dispatch anything in his zone to the leg-side, especially from Oram's bowling.
New Zealand's pace attack looked set for a pasting with 38 runs conceded off three overs. The only success was for Bond who bowled David Warner (19 from 10 balls) just as he looked to be hitting his straps.
New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori stepped in for the fourth over and trapped Shane Watson leg before wicket, the result of a clever variation of pace, dismissing him for 19 from 12 balls. Then Bond caught the inside edge of Johnson's bat to bowl him for one to make it three wickets for just one run.
Vettori's four overs resulted in 1-13. However, the comparative depth in attacks saw New Zealand exposed and Oram, Daryl Tuffey and Nathan McCullum were unable to maintain the pressure that Bond and Vettori achieved and it was a jaunt for batsmen as experienced as Clarke and Hussey.