CAIRNS (Agencies): Australia beat New Zealand by 25 runs to complete a 3-0 one-day international series win in captain Aaron Finch’s final game in the format.
Finch, who was given a guard of honour by the New Zealand players, scored just five in his final ODI innings. He announced his retirement from ODIs on Saturday but will remain Australia’s Twenty20 captain.
Australia were put in to bat and scored 267-5, Steve Smith top-scoring with 105 from 131 balls. Smith came in at number three and overcame some testing fast bowling from Trent Boult and Tim Southee early on before accelerating, his second 50 coming from just 46 balls and bringing up his 12th ODI century.
He was supported by Marnus Labuschagne, who made 52, while Alex Carey scored an unbeaten 42. In reply, New Zealand started with a positive opening stand of 49 between Devon Conway and Finn Allen, but they slipped to 112-5 and struggled to recover.
Glenn Phillips and Jimmy Neesham led a counter-attack, scoring 47 and 36 respectively, and Mitchell Santner made 30 to bring the equation to 46 runs needed from 30 balls.
But when Phillips was dismissed by Mitchell Starc, the remaining wickets fell quickly as New Zealand slumped from 224-7 to 242 all out, with Starc taking 3-60.
“It’s been a fun ride, I’ve loved every bit of it,” said Finch.
“Sitting around having a beer with your mates in the changing room after you win a game or a series is the thing that I’ll miss the most but we’ll definitely enjoy tonight.”
