Shane Watson blasted his second successive hundred to help Australia retain the ICC Champions Trophy, beating New Zealand .
Watson hit an unbeaten 129-ball 105 (10X4, 4X6) and starred in a 128-run stand with Cameron White (62) under tremendous pressure as Australia, chasing 201 against New Zealand's never-say-die pacers, overcame a wobbly start to reach 206 for four in 45.2 overs.
Earlier, a rudderless New Zealand, sans their injured skipper Daniel Vettori, fumbled and faltered their way to 200 for nine.
The Kiwis had just two decent partnerships in their innings but Martin Guptill (40) and Aaron Redmond (26) took 15.1 overs to raise 61 runs for the second wicket, while Neil Broom (37) and James Franklin (33) added 65 in 14.1 overs, which underlined their struggle in the middle.
For Australia, Nathan Hauritz claimed three for 37.
Reaction from New Zealand Cricket chief executive
Considering Australia's batting might, the match seemed to have all the ingredients of a lop-sided show but Shane Bond and Kyle Mills injected drama by dealing early blows that jolted Australia out of any complacency they had.
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Bond's second delivery removed Tim Paine (1) and Mills then trapped in-form Ricky Ponting (1) in the next over to reduce Australia to six for two wickets inside three overs.
And New Zealand pacers maintained the same pressure as Australia crawled to 34 for two after 15 overs, an austerity they are not accustomed to.
Watson and White did not panic and ran hard between wickets, while helping themselves to the occasional boundary.
Reaction from Australia captain Ricky Ponting
The duo paced the chase with utmost maturity, first weathering the crisis and then opening up.
Mills eventually returned to remove White but the stand had yielded 128 precious runs by then and even Michael Hussey's (11) wicket came too late as Australia had pocketed the match by then.
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