New Zealand skipper Stephen Fleming blamed his team's poor batting after missing out on a golden opportunity to beat Australia in a triangular series cricket match at the Nehru stadium in Guwahati on Sunday.

After doing well to restrict the Australians to 225, New Zealand batsmen failed to put up a decent show and were bowled out for 181 in 45.3 overs to lose the match by 44 runs.

"Our batsmen played poorly and got out to some rash strokes while the run outs also contributed," Fleming told reporters after the match.

The Kiwis were desperate for a win to keep their chances of getting into the final alive.

Australian captain Ricky Ponting was also appeared a bit concerned about his side's top-order batsmen.

The World Champions were in a spot of bother after losing four wickets for 61 runs, but Michael Bevan came up with a fine unbeaten 84 to help his side post a respectable total.

"We did not have a great start and this is a matter of concern which should be looked into," Ponting said.

"Ultimately thanks to Michael Bevan's magnificent innings we got a respectable total which we successfully defended."

Ponting also praised his bowlers and said their early inroads into the opposition batting proved to be the turning point of the match.

"Apart from losing early wickets, we played pretty good and our bowlers did a very good job in defending the total," he said. "The early wickets for New Zealand proved fatal for them."