New Zealand's fast bowlers gave Ross Taylor a realistic chance to begin his captaincy career with a win after restricting Australia to 275 for 8 on a wonderful batting pitch.
A quick start from Shane Watson and a late 59 from Michael Hussey ensured a competitive total for Australia but it was a strong recovery from New Zealand after 300 loomed as a minimum target early in Australia's innings.
However, New Zealand's chase will be made more difficult due to a potentially serious knee injury to Jacob Oram, who was helped from the ground after he fell while fielding. The incident looked innocuous as Oram jogged in from mid-off to collect a ball but something clearly twinged in his left knee and he slumped to the turf in pain.
Oram had already bowled seven overs and had picked up the key wicket of Watson, whose brutal 45 from 31 balls got Australia away to a flying start. The loss of Watson, who had compiled a 50-run opening stand with Brad Haddin, slowed things considerably and it wasn't until Hussey and James Hopes got together late in the innings that another half-century partnership was formed.
Hussey and Hopes (33) stopped New Zealand from running through the lower order with a 72-run stand that helped Australia take 42 from the batting Powerplay. In the end they only just passed 273, which was the lowest first-innings total in a Napier ODI for six years and ten matches.
The key for New Zealand was their ability to get a wicket just when the Australians threatened to gain some momentum. Their attack was a little samey in the absence of Daniel Vettori, who was a late withdrawal with a sore neck, but the fast men and medium pacers found ways to mix up their tactics and spare Taylor any major captaincy nightmares.
James Franklin was a surprisingly important man and picked up 1 for 44 from nine overs. Crucially, his wicket was that of a refreshed Ricky Ponting, who had struck four boundaries on his way to 44 and looked set to anchor the innings when he failed to pick Franklin's slower ball and drove to short cover where Martin Guptill took a smart one-handed catch.
Ponting had built useful if not match-changing partnerships with Michael Clarke and Cameron White but neither of those men could capitalise on their starts. Clarke (22) was just starting to lift his output with a couple of boundaries, when he received a snorter of a short ball from Daryl Tuffey and fended a thin edge behind to Brendon McCullum.
White made a fast start that turned into a more cautious innings when Ponting fell and his 33 from 49 balls ended when the changed ball after 34 overs seamed in, took the off stump and gave Tuffey a second wicket. It left Australia at 172 for 5 and gave New Zealand the edge following a start so frenetic that it seemed Australia had not switched out of Twenty20 mode.
Watson's initial outburst included 14 from the first over against Tim Southee, the star of Sunday's Twenty20 super-over. He also showed off his strength through midwicket and pulled Bond a long way back into the stands as Australia reached 50 in the sixth over.
His opening partner Brad Haddin played a couple of fine drives before he was the first to go for 12 when he missed a searing Bond delivery and lost his off stump. Watson's blitz was cut short when he got under an Oram delivery and heaved it high to deep midwicket, where Peter Ingram ran in and took a good catch low to the ground. From that moment on, Australia's hopes of a 300-plus total nosedived.
