Record-breaking Smith leads Australia to victory over New Zealand

Opener Guptill powered his way to an 11th ODI century and looked an increasing threat to Australia’s hopes of winning the match – despite Smith taking a stunning one-handed catch to help get rid of Watling. Watling cut and Smith, at gully, leapt and held it, face-planting on the SCG turf in the process.

“I guess he’s talked about it in the prep and got a 170 and won the game by himself, so definitely [it] instils some confidence with all the batters, and to go out there you want match winners and he’s definitely one of them”. It was a bit freakish.

“All that’s got to happen pretty quickly and it was pretty costly in the end”, Hesson said.

‘I was lucky enough to get through and get the 100 but unfortunately I couldn’t take it through to the end’.

3 – Ricky Ponting (164), Steve Smith (164) and George Bailey (156) are the only three Australian captains to score more than 150 in ODIs.

– “If this was National Football League it would be reviewed and replayed ad infinitum and they would probably decide that there was no sufficient evidence that the ball was caught before touching the ground and therefore THE RULING ON THE FIELD STANDS”.

Guptill, who led New Zealand’s reply with a century is confident that the Black Caps have learnt their lessons from the defeat.

Guptill said while pleased with his personal milestone, he felt downtrodden after failing to bat through the innings.

Smith’s knock, the seventh highest by an Australian in an ODI, surpassed South Africa’s A.B.de Villiers’s 162 at the same ground in last year’s World Cup.

Smith reiterated the point he made before the game that the saga had not affected his chances of selection, adding they simply chose to go with Head.

Australia captain Steve Smith was pivotal in the game and was awarded man-of-the-match for his 164 runs with the bat and superb fielding efforts.

But Steve Smith has revealed it never should have been. Overall, Smith’s innings is the fourth highest against New Zealand and second highest for Australia against New Zealand, after Matthew Hayden’s 181 not out. Not much was going through my head. I came in in the first over under a bit of pressure and having to be the glue through a few wickets and a few unfortunate wickets’.

Replays showed he would have been given out had they referred it to the third umpire, with Smith making the most of his second life.

However the Black Caps will hardly resemble the squad which lost the 2015 World Cup final to the Australians, following the retirements of Brendon McCullum, Daniel Vettori, Grant Elliott, Nathan McCullum and Kyle Mills. “From point it’s hard for me”.

“I think they may have just ran with that”.