Injury worries add to insult of heavy defeat for Australia

If they lose the current one-day series with New Zealand, the Australians - who have been No 1 in the rankings since the system was introduced in October 2002 - will be relegated to second place behind South Africa.

Last weekend Australia lost the final of the Commonwealth Bank Tri-Series to England, and yesterday's crushing defeat in the opening match of the Chappell-Hadlee series with New Zealand was their first by ten wickets in 646 one-day internationals.

To compound a miserable week for the reigning world champions it has emerged that strike bowler Brett Lee's chances of playing in next month's World Cup are hanging in the balance.

The defending champions start their campaign against Scotland in St Kitts and Nevis on 14 March, but Lee believes he only has a "50-50" chance of being fit enough to take any part in the competition after sustaining torn ligaments in his left ankle. He must wait up to ten days for a definitive assessment.

Australia's medical staff will wait at least another week before making any decision on his availability. "Brett has suffered a serious ligament injury to his left ankle," said Australia physiotherapist Alex Kountouris. "He was seen by an orthopaedic surgeon, who decided that he does not require surgery and will be initially managed with crutches and a brace.

"The surgeon will review him in a week's time and assess his prospects of playing in the 2007 ICC Cricket World Cup. It is difficult to put an exact time on his recovery at this early stage. This should become clearer in the next seven to ten days."

Lee added: "The good news is that I don't need an operation. At the moment probably all I can say is that I'm 50-50 for the World Cup so fingers crossed."

Ricky Ponting's side already have a fitness worry over all-rounder Andrew Symonds, who has been named in the World Cup squad despite undergoing surgery on a bicep problem, while wicketkeeper-batsman Adam Gilchrist is set to fly to the West Indies later than the rest of the squad as his wife is due to give birth.

Batsman Michael Clarke has been ordered to return home from his team's short tour of New Zealand because of a hip problem. Kountouris said Clarke would not recover in time to play in the remaining two matches and had been sent home as a precaution to ensure he was available for the World Cup.

The Australians were missing five key players - Ponting, Gilchrist, Symonds, Lee and Clarke - in Wellington yesterday, but their absence could hardly be regarded as an excuse for their fourth defeat in five matches.

New Zealand raced to a stunning victory with 23 overs to spare after fast bowler Shane Bond had destroyed the Australian batting line-up by taking five wickets for 23 in the visitors' miserable total of 148.

New Zealand had little trouble reaching the winning target, with Lou Vincent sealing victory by smashing Mitchell Johnson for six to finish unbeaten on 73, with skipper Stephen Fleming not out at the other end on 70.

"It's not a nice feeling," said Australia stand-in captain Mike Hussey. "It's a demoralising loss and probably as low as we've been. Everything seemed to go the wrong way and it can only go up from here.

"We've got a new group at the moment and we've just got to mould together as quickly as possible. It was a good toss to win and they got plenty of movement out of the wicket. I was hopeful a couple of early wickets would give us a chance, but we couldn't get any momentum."

Hussey top-scored with 42 off 96 balls while Brad Hodge (22) and Brad Hogg (20) both made starts, but only two other players reached double figures as the Kiwis chalked up their first win over Australia this year after losing all four tri-series clashes.

"Everything for them went wrong and everything for us went right, right from the toss," Fleming said. "They had the worst of the pitch, it got better for us and we rode our luck. It's the best I've seen Shane bowl for some time and not just because he got five wickets. His control was outstanding, and his thought processes were great."

Bond, who took a hat-trick against Australia in Hobart last month, continued his success against them with a supreme display of fast bowling. He removed replacement opener Phil Jacques (one) and Gilchrist's standby wicketkeeper Brad Haddin (six) in his first spell, then took a superb one- handed catch to remove the dangerous Cameron White (13) in his second spell. Bond completed his fourth five-wicket haul in one-day internationals when he clean bowled Nathan Bracken for a duck then dismissed Hogg to polish off the Australian innings inside 50 overs.

Vincent and Fleming each hit eight fours and two sixes in their unbroken partnership, with Vincent reaching his half-century off 61 balls and Fleming silencing his critics by bringing up his fifty off 62 deliveries.

However, New Zealand's win may have come at a price with explosive all-rounder Jacob Oram breaking a finger after taking a routine catch off Johnson, threatening his World Cup chances.

The teams meet in the second match of the series in Auckland tomorrow, with the third and final game in Hamilton on Tuesday.