By Mark Geenty of NZPA

Auckland, March 11 NZPA - New Zealand cricket captain Daniel Vettori slammed his batsmen for their soft dismissals which handed Australia the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy on a platter here tonight.

After a flying start at 120 for one in the 20th over, New Zealand's batsmen imploded to be dismissed for 238 off 44.1 overs at Eden Park as Australia cantered to a six-wicket victory in their rain-reduced target with 17 balls to spare. It sealed them the series 3-1 with Saturday's fifth ODI to spare.

Said Vettori: "They were the same mistakes as the previous two games and it's really hard to expand on.

"It was about not putting enough runs on the board, losing wickets at crucial times and putting ourselves under far too much pressure. When you do that against Australia you get yourself in trouble.

"Most of the dismissals were relatively soft. They're just poor mistakes and whether it is the mental shift from aggressiveness to accumulation I'm not sure. They're mistakes that shouldn't happen."

Despite failing to bat out their overs for a second straight match, the Duckworth-Lewis calculation method assisted New Zealand as the tourists were assigned a target of 200 off 34 overs.

Vettori (2-29) and Shane Bond (1-28) were both on song but Tim Southee went for 55 off 5.1 overs while Daryl Tuffey and James Franklin also suffered with the ball.

"It's a funny system (Duckworth-Lewis). I said after the second game that I didn't quite understand it. It gave us an opportunity," Vettori said.

"Bondy and myself put some pressure on with the ball but we couldn't maintain it from both ends and that really hurts against Australia."

Victorious captain Ricky Ponting admitted he thought his side had been dudded by the 90-minute rain delay but on Eden Park's small boundaries a run rate of around six an over was comfortable.

"I actually thought it (calculation) might have been wrong... that was about 30 runs too many," he said.

"It shows none of those equations will ever be perfect. We probably needed to be rewarded more for having bowled them out in 44 overs.

"But when you're chasing 200 off 34 over on a ground like that, 200 in a Twenty20 game's probably a good score out here."

Australia retained the trophy for a third consecutive series and Ponting said it at last banished the memory of the 0-3 hiding they received in New Zealand in 2007.

"It doesn't matter how many games you've played in between, you always remember the last series, especially if it's a losing one. That was on the eve of the World Cup and we were thoroughly outplayed.

"With little time between the games it's been a good effort from us to turn things around and in the last two games play our best two."

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