Overseas media have been quick to rub salt into the wounds of Australia, after the Blackcaps "embarrassed" and "demolished" them by 89 runs in the Twenty20 World Cup opener at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
An unbeaten 92 from Devon Conway, and three wickets apiece to Tim Southee (3/6) and Mitchell Santner (3/31) combined to leave Australia with no answers, as the Blackcaps avenged their 2021 World Cup final defeat in the UAE.
The margin was Australia's largest in terms of runs at a Twenty20 World Cup and sends New Zealand to the top of their group in the tournament's Super 12 stage - boasting an emphatic net run rate of 4.450.
Victory is also the Blackcaps' first in Australia - in any format - since the 2011 test win in Hobart.
Overseas media was quick to scrutinise and deplore the Australians for their performance in the tournament opener.
Former Australian allrounder Shane Watson said in commentary that "Australia was outplayed in a big way".
"Fearless cricket from New Zealand and Australia are going to be licking their wounds for a while now. That is a very big defeat.
"They have demolished the Australians... that was an annihilation. The Australians didn't expect this at all."
Sydney Morning Herald cricket writer Malcolm Conn has also teed off, saying a "rampant" New Zealand side left Australia's T20 World Cup "title hopes in danger".
"Australia were under pressure from the outset, as [Finn] Allen, 23, teed off in spectacular fashion against the home side's premier fast-bowling trio, after [Australian captain Aaron] Finch won the toss and bowled," Conn wrote.
"The Australians had only seen this burgeoning white-ball specialist once before, when he scored 35 from 38 balls opening the batting in the third and final match of a low-key one-day series in Cairns last month.
"But his T20 international stats offered an indication of what he is capable of, with a strike rate of 162."
The Sydney Daily Telegraph describes Australia's performance as a "horror night" and they now face a "do-or-die clash with tournament favourites England next Friday night in Melbourne".
"Australia will have to win six matches in a row to have any chance of defending its World Cup crown, following a disastrous first-up annihilation at the hands of the giant-killing Kiwis," wrote Ben Horne and Joe Barton in the Daily Telegraph.
The Newcastle Herald also adds Australia was handed T20 World Cup "flogging" by the Blackcaps, while Fox Sports said the home side was "annihilated".
The UK media didn't miss its opportunity to criticise the Australians, with the Telegraph labelling the defeat as "embarrassing".
Telegraph chief cricket writer Scyld Berry says former Blackcap-turned England test coach Brendon McCullum will also been thrilled with New Zealand's performance, with the Ashes just around the corner in 2023.
"England's head test coach Brendon McCullum must have been doubly pleased, after a near-perfect batting display by his native New Zealand launched the Super 12 stage of the T20 World Cup and culminated in defeat for the hosts Australia by the embarrassing margin of 89 runs," Berry wrote.
"McCullum had unfinished business against Australia as a player. In the 50-over World Cup final of 2015 between Australia and New Zealand at Melbourne, his raw aggression in Mitchell Starc's opening over ended in a three-ball duck and his chance of a World Cup medal went with it."
Twitter also isn't kind to Australia, with one person writing it "absolute shellacking", while Fox Sports cricket commentator Isa Guha says it was a "statement of intent".
Fox Sports tweets it was Australia's lowest total (111) and biggest loss (89 runs) in T20Is on home soil, and the Blackcaps' first win in any format at the SCG since 2002.
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