Swashbuckling New Zealand opener Martin Guptill has lamented his sides' poor show in the first ODI of the Chappell-Hadlee series which Australia went on to win comfortably by 68 runs at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) on Sunday.
According to Guptill, the Black Caps' surprising clumsy effort in the field opened the door for the Steve Smith-led side to break their barren run of five ODIs and take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.
Bad fielding, combined with that of loose bowling, enabled Australia to post a daunting target of 325 for the visitors after being 92-4 at one stage. Smith dominated the recovery with a ground ODI record 164, supported by Travis Head (52) and Matthew Wade (38).
The in-form opener produced a brilliant century, scoring 114 off 102 balls, but it wasn't enough to propel the Kiwis to what would have been a sensational win against Australia. Guptill's 11th ODI ton and first against the Aussies contained six sixes and 10 fours.
"We probably didn't bowl as well as we could have in the middle stages and at the end," Guptill was quoted as saying by cricket.com.au. "It is a bit disappointing. We know we're better than that. We're going do our best in a couple of days if we have them in that situation again to really put the foot down."
The two teams will next face each other in the second ODI in Canberra on Tuesday.
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