Ponting gets his wish

Australia's commanding six-wicket win over New Zealand is just the performance captain Ricky Ponting has been wanting from his troops since the tour began.

A Brad Haddin century helped Australia go 2-1 up in the Chappell-Hadlee series after the win at Seddon Park in Hamilton showed the full potential of its ability.

After Mitchell Johnson and Ryan Harris decimated the Kiwi batsmen and kept them to just 245, Haddin stepped in and forged a big partnership with Ponting that spelled the end for the home side.

Ponting said the performance was exactly what he has been hoping for since the series began with a loss in the first ODI in Napier and an unconvincing win in Auckland on Saturday.

"That's what we've been talking about and what I've been asking the boys to deliver," he said.

"I know that if one or two of our guys gets 80 plus or 100, we're going to get well over 300 every time we bat."

"This has been the performance we've been looking for after the first couple of games. It was a lot more commanding performance and Brad obviously played a massive part in us winning tonight."

"It was a very, very convincing win tonight and to take the power play as late as we did, we did it pretty easily. But this game changes very quickly and we can't afford to think this'll happen again on Thursday. We've played our best cricket today so the momentum, if there's any, is obviously with us."

Haddin reached his highest ever ODI score with 110 in the innings and never looked too troubled from a New Zealand attack that struggled to get a vital breakthrough when needed.

The 32-year-old wicket keeper said he felt good in the innings and was pleased to have responded to Ponting's call for the top-order to improve.

"I felt pretty comfortable today," he said. "I think the majority of our top-order has been in pretty good nick since we arrived in New Zealand."

"Ricky has obviously challenged us over the last couple of days for a couple of us to go on and spend some time in the middle to get some big partnerships. I was lucky enough to get 100 tonight so it was good fun."

Australia heads to Auckland on Wednesday before the fourth match of the series that will be played at Eden Park on Thursday.