By Mark Geenty of NZPA

Hamilton, March 7 NZPA - Even for a keen student of the game, New Zealand cricket captain Daniel Vettori admits he is baffled by the Duckworth-Lewis system.

But coach Mark Greatbatch laid the blame for New Zealand's defeat squarely at the feet of his top order batsmen after they fell short by 12 runs of their recalculated target in yesterday's second Chappell-Hadlee Trophy one-dayer against Australia.

Rain delays in the innings break, and again after New Zealand slumped to 43 for three after 8.4 overs, saw their target reduced from 274 off 50 overs to 266 off 45 overs at Eden Park.

They also lost an over in the batting and bowling power plays, leaving Vettori distinctly unimpressed with the complicated system.

"There's a lot of things in cricket I don't understand and that's one of them. To lose two power play overs and to only have eight runs taken off ... I don't know how that works," Vettori said.

"It makes it incredibly tough. It would have been a lot better for us if the game had gone 50 overs."

Greatbatch admitted his top order batsmen did not play it smart against the Australian pacemen.

"With a better start we probably would have knocked that total over," he said.

"We were a bit hurt by that break for the rain, Duckworth-Lewis hurt us, but that was our own fault because we'd lost three wickets in succession.

"We want to attack and be aggressive but you've also got to be smart with it, try to deny a couple of their bowlers, with the way they bowl."

Ryan Harris, who ended with three for 34, rocked the New Zealanders by dismissing Peter Ingram and Neil Broom leg before wicket with successive balls, then Mitchell Johnson finished the job by taking four for 51.

New Zealand did not take their reduced four-over batting power play until they were 240 for nine in the 41st over, with Vettori in full flight en route to 70 off 49 balls but with only Tim Southee left.

"It's a difficult one because we kept losing wickets," Greatbatch said.

"There was discussion about taking it earlier but the captain was out there and the feeling is, as soon as you take a power play, their best bowlers come back on. It can work for you but at the other end, there might be lesser bowlers to finish.

"I think we just lost too many wickets. We needed to be five or six down taking that power play instead of being eight or nine down."

NZPA WGT mg md