Top 5 Australia-New Zealand ODIs of all time

#2 Commonwealth Bank Series 2007, Perth - AUS

Daniel Vettori, Brendon McCullum and Jacob Oram

The 2007 series was a high scoring tournament in general, and on this match on the hard WACA wicket at Perth, Matthew Hayden and Ricky Ponting got stuck in – resulting in some fun for the boundary-loving neutral. Hayden and Ponting took their time to settle, but blitzed into the bowlers once they had their measure.

Hayden scored 117 with 15 fours, while Ponting scored 111 with 8 fours and one six. There was also a late flurry in the innings with big hitters Andrew Symonds, Mike Hussey and Cameron White ensuring the top order’s efforts were given a fitting follow-up.

New Zealand managed to keep within touching distance of the required run rate in the chase, but were always heading for trouble losing wickets as regularly as they were.

In stepped Jacob Oram, ‘poor man’s Chris Cairns’, as dubbed by an Australian newspaper prior to the match. With New Zealand chasing the improbable target of 146 from 14 overs with 5 wickets in hand, Oram and McCullum combined to send all 6 Australian bowlers to all parts of the park.

It was a mighty scare Oram (101 off 72) and McCullum (46 off 39) gave the host nation, who had prematurely assumed the match had been pocketed, but the Kiwis fell 8 runs short in the end.

Result – Australia won by 8 runs

Man of the Match – Ricky Ponting