By Mark Geenty of NZPA Wellington, Feb 26 NZPA - Man-of-the-match Mitchell Johnson warned New Zealand's batsmen there was plenty more fireworks to come from Australia's pace attack in the trans-Tasman cricket series.

Johnson led an impressive bowling performance with three for 21 after speedster Shaun Tait flew into his work at 155kmh as the tourists won the Twenty20 opener by six wickets here, chasing New Zealand's sub-par 118.

"They've got Shane Bond who can bowl pretty quick but we've got a few guys in our side that can bowl 145-150kmh-plus, it does make a bit of a difference," he said.

"You don't get an easy run at it. It definitely makes it tougher for their guys. I'm pretty glad we're not facing us."

Johnson, Tait, left-armer Dirk Nannes and Shane Watson took nine wickets between them as only James Franklin (43 off 42) and Martin Guptill (30 off 29) made any progress.

With game two in Christchurch on Sunday, the tourists were satisfied they'd set the bar high for New Zealand to clamber back from.

"Definitely guys were a little bit nervous coming over, playing a new side again and we knew New Zealand love the shorter form of the game and do pretty well in it. There were nerves in the dressing room and I definitely felt it," Johnson said.

Franklin said the hosts were disappointed not to make a game of it after winning the toss and batting first.

"We knew it was going to be a stiff ask tonight. They've had a great summer back home against the West Indies and Pakistan but tonight we just didn't play to our potential," Franklin said.

"We didn't score enough runs, probably 30-40 runs light, and it was always going to be tough trying to defend that total."

The Wellington allrounder kicked himself for not launching past 50 and setting Australia a target of around 160 which he thought was a possibility with six overs remaining, before a late collapse.

"It's nice to get some runs but in this format it's neither here nor there, 40 off 40 balls, it's not really a matchwinning contribution. That's what we're all trying to do, if it was 70 off 40 I'd be a lot happier."