By RICHARD BOOCK
New Zealand at least took the heat out of their money-for-autographs lark after being eliminated from the Champions Trophy in ignominious fashion.
Lampooned abroad for their new stance on charging for autographs, the New Zealanders were never in the hunt at the Oval yesterday, losing their seventh consecutive match against Australia after a feeble batting effort.
Not only did the seven-wicket margin catapult Australia into next week's semifinals, it also ended New Zealand's 10-match winning streak, and must have left many home-based autograph-hunters wondering if they should start charging the players.
Worried about the dangers of batting first, coach John Bracewell's worst fears were realised when New Zealand lost the toss and disintegrated quickly in the face of some searching - but hardly unplayable - Australian seam bowling.
Staggering, and teetering on the edge of humiliation at 89 for seven, New Zealand saved some face with a late rearguard courtesy of Brendon McCullum, Daniel Vettori and Chris Harris, but their eventual total of 198 was still hopelessly inadequate.
Apart from an early fright when Adam Gilchrist fell in Jacob Oram's first over, Australia appeared untroubled, reaching the target with 12.4 overs to spare after incisive contributions from Matthew Hayden, Damien Martyn and Andrew Symonds.
The only slight consolation for New Zealand was that they made the game a slightly better contest than did Australia's previous opponents, the US, and that they collected a ninth-wicket batting record into the bargain.
McCullum, who top-scored for his side with a safety-first 47, combined with Vettori to post 68 for the penultimate wicket, overhauling the 1982-83 efforts of Richard Hadlee and Gary Troup - who scored 63 against England at Brisbane.
Otherwise it was a deflating experience for Stephen Fleming's side, and another psychological blow for the coming summer's international programme, which includes eight more one-dayers against Australia.
"We simply got behind in the game," Fleming said. "We didn't cope with the pressure built by the Australian bowlers, and we lost wickets in clumps ...
"It's clear we've got to take more time and absorb the pressure, and maybe keep our powder dry for later on. I guess that was one of the biggest lessons we learned."
New Zealand, after a reasonable start thanks to Nathan Astle, might have rued some marginal leg-before decisions, but were otherwise the authors of their own misfortune, with much of the top order falling to poor shot selection and soft dismissals.
Astle, Hamish Marshall and Chris Cairns were all trapped in front to deliveries that might have bounced over the stumps, and probably would have, judging by the television replays.
For all that, Fleming fell to an ill-advised hook, Scott Styris to a lead-footed waft, Oram to a miscue, and Harris ran out Craig McMillan with the cold indifference of a Mafia hitman.
Despite the late salvage operation, any hopes of a fairytale comeback were extinguished quickly as Australia chased down the target, Symonds destroying the bowling with 71 off 47 balls (four sixes and seven fours), his last 21 coming off just seven deliveries.
"Our top order let the side down," Fleming said. "We've got to take responsibility for that. The plan was to build a platform from which we could attack late in the innings.
"They only took four front-line bowlers into the game and we hoped to expose that ...
"We're not making any excuses. We've got to play smarter and better."
Cairns, who fell to his first ball to leave paceman Michael Kasprowicz on a hat-trick, said: "Against a team as good as them, you can't afford to give them such a clear initiative."
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