49.3 overs Australia 246 for 8 (M Bevan 102*) beat New Zealand 245 for 8 by two wickets
scorecard

Michael Bevan, the greatest finisher that the limited-overs game has seen, led Australia to one of the most improbable victories in the game's history with one of the greatest one-day innings of all time.

Chasing New Zealand's total of 245 for 8, Australia were in disarray at 82 for 6 when Bevan stepped into the breach. What followed was one of the most special batting displays you could wish to see and the ovation that he got as he walked back to the pavilion - with 102 not out to his name - acknowledged as much.

On a grand larceny scale, the heist that Bevan - with tremendous support from Shane Warne, Brett Lee and Andy Bichel - pulled off made Ronnie Biggs and the Great Train Robbery look like a toddler's tea party. This was absolutely sensational stuff, and when Bichel slashed Shane Bond for four with three balls to spare, the crowd at the MCG went into the sort of delirium one associates with all-night raves. Finally, 82 days after the beginning of the first Test at Brisbane, Australia had beaten New Zealand this season, at the seventh attempt.

Until Bevan's last minute intervention, New Zealand had once again dominated the Big Brother across the Tasman Sea, having finished with a real flourish to post 245 for 8 after a stuttering start. It was an innings of many contributions: Chris Cairns made 55 despite a bad back that forced him to stay away from the bowling crease, while Stephen Fleming chipped in with a steady 50 and Chris Harris a bubbly 41.

It was Craig McMillan's run-a-ball 34 that really set New Zealand rolling though. After Lee and Glenn McGrath removed Lou Vincent and Nathan Astle with the minimum of fuss, McMillan arrived at 19 for 2 and hooked McGrath for four off the second ball that he faced. And then charged Bichel for a roasting straight four. And then hooked McGrath for six more.

By the time Shane Warne came along, even Fleming was beginning to feel the mood. He danced down and drove Warne for four, persuaded the umpires to call a no-ball because three desperate men were stationed outside the 30-yard circle – a gesture for which Fleming will have an appointment with the match referee Hanumant Singh tomorrow -and then masterfully sliced another four behind square.

With the score on 73, McMillan drove Ian Harvey straight to Ricky Ponting at point. Enter Cairns and the most productive partnership of the innings, 70 in 16 overs as he and Fleming laid the foundation for a decent score. Fleming held back and Cairns scored at a brisk pace without ever looking cyclonic.

Just when it seemed rosy, Fleming threw it away by attempting a sharp single to Steve Waugh at point (143 for 4). Cairns moved to his fifty from only 55 balls, but then fell in trying to slide up another gear, lofting Warne to Bevan at long off.

A scampering stand of 48 then ensued between Harris and Dion Nash. With angled bats, they tapped and ran like hell, before Andre Adams, with a six and a four off the last two balls of the innings from Ian Harvey, applied the icing.

When Australia batted, Adam Gilchrist came flying out of the traps before inside-edging Bond, who's been the sensation of the Southern summer, back onto his stumps for an eight-ball 14 (24 for 1). Ricky Ponting's lean trot continued when, having made eight, he fended Bond to Astle (40 for 2), and Mark Waugh pottered around for 21 before hooking Nash down Adams' throat at deep square-leg (51 for 3).

When an out-of-touch Damien Martyn guided an Adams delivery straight to Harris at point, things were very bleak indeed (53 for 4). Almost as bleak, in fact, as the look on Steve Waugh's face as he walked back after edging a beautiful outswinger from Nash to Adam Parore (65 for 5).

Harvey threw the bat for 12 before Bond came back to have him caught behind going for a wild flail (82 for 6). Warne (29) and Bevan then resurrected the innings to give Australia a glimmer of hope going into the final 15 overs before Warne lobbed an easy catch to Bond at square leg off Adams (143 for 7).

With 13 overs to go and 103 needed, that was the signal for Bevan to cut loose with some powerful pulls and improvised heaves over the infield. As always, Bevan's running between wickets was a class apart: in all he scampered 37 singles and 17 twos. Five of those twos came in the penultimate over of the innings, from Adams, the fourth bringing up a hundred that won't be forgotten in a hurry. Six were needed off the final over, and Bichel finished the job with boundaries off Bond's first and third deliveries.

All to play for in the VB Series then, and all thanks to one man who chose the Jerry Lee Lewis option. "If I'm going to hell, I'm going there playing the piano," Lewis said many years ago and today, Bevan did just that.

Dileep Premachandran is assistant editor of Wisden.com India. Rahul Bhattacharya is a staff writer.

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