A century from stand-in captain Brendon McCullum was not enough to help New Zealand to victory in the opening match of their short tour of Australia on Friday.
McCullum, standing in for regular skipper Daniel Vettori, smashed 119 off 126 balls in New Zealand's total of 278 for nine off 50 overs, chasing Cricket Australia Chairman XI's 285 all out off 47 overs at Lilac Hill in Western Australia.
West Australia's Luke Pomersbach, who is suspended from his state for disciplinary reasons, smashed 88 off 65 balls for the Chairman's side, while Victoria's David Hussey added 73.
Jacob Oram was the best of New Zealand's bowlers, taking three for 41 off seven overs.
McCullum, opening the batting, hit nine fours and five sixes but short of Jamie How (30) and Mark Gillespie (30 not out) the visitors were unable to generate any substantial run support for their skipper.
The Black Caps next match is against Australia in a Twenty20 international on Tuesday in Perth before the three-match Chappel-Hadlee one-day series starts on December 14 in Adelaide with the other matches on December 16 and December 20 in Sydney and Hobart.
© Reuters 2007
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