Perth redemption for man of match Mills

Two years ago Kyle Mills left Perth with heat exhaustion, an ever-worsening knee injury and his cricket World Cup dream in tatters.

Last night the New Zealand pace spearhead clutched a man of the match gong and wore a contented grin at a job expertly done after inspiring the tourists' thrilling two-wicket win over Australia in the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy opener at the WACA ground.

Mills lived up to his lofty perch as the world's fifth-ranked one-day bowler, snaring four for 35 off 9.4 overs in a well-executed New Zealand bowling plan on a sluggish pitch as they skittled Australia for 181.

And he relished the promotion to allrounder status at No 7 in the batting order, chipping in with a vital 26 off 35 to help topscorer Ross Taylor, who made 64, revive a stuttering chase.

"It all starts with me, and to get off to a nice start in the first over and carry that on for my first spell was pretty pleasing," Mills told NZPA.

"It was pretty hot (35degC) but it was nice to have the Fremantle doctor (prevailing wind) here because I never thought it existed. Last time it was just unbearable here.

"The thing that stands out to me most is clear plans and the whole bowling group stuck to them, and we reaped the rewards."

Mills was on song from the start, ably backed by young Tim Southee and later Iain O'Brien, and snared rookie openers Shaun Marsh and David Warner to sharp catches by a strategically-placed Peter Fulton at short cover.

He returned later to trap Brad Haddin in front for 31 just as he was launching, then skittled Mitchell Johnson to complete the rout.

Question marks loomed over the bowling lineup after they couldn't defend 271 against a fresh-faced Prime Minister's 11 in Canberra, but Mills said hours of video homework on Australia's 1-4 series loss to South Africa paid off.

"It was really disappointing in Canberra. It was one of those things where we didn't really know the opposition and we didn't really have any plans in place, we just let everyone go of their accord.

"After watching the South African series we had some pretty clear cut plans for their top order and the whole bowling group stuck to those plans. None of the top order really got away on us."

Now New Zealand have a royal chance to place further pressure on an under-fire Australian lineup, who have lost four matches in succession, in game two of five at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Friday.

"Cricket's a big momentum game, and whoever has the momentum at the time and can take advantage of that will reap the rewards," Mills said.

"One-nil up, hopefully we take this down to Melbourne and train well down there, and try to stay a step ahead of them."

Mills' haul took his tally of one-day wickets to 140 from 93 matches at an average of 25.42 and an economy rate of 4.61.

It drew him level with Ewen Chatfield, fifth on New Zealand's all-time list, and now just 18 short of Sir Richard Hadlee's 158 from 115 matches. Daniel Vettori (229), Chris Harris (203) and Chris Cairns (200) are the top three.

"I'm not really a statistical person but when those things come along it's a nice feeling of satisfaction.

"(Two hundred wickets) is definitely a goal of mine, hopefully I can stay fit and sound and play some more good cricket, and winning cricket."

-NZPA