The White Ferns have lost their first lead up game to the T20 World Cup with a five wicker defeat to Australia in MacKay.
New Zealand batted first and scored 143-7 with the home side chasing down the total with 145-5 in the 19th over to win by five wickets
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Captain Sophie Devine was deemed to have not yet sufficiently recovered from the ankle injury she suffered during The Hundred and replaced as skipper by Suzie Bates for the series opener.
Bates called correctly at the toss and opted to set a target, Australia’s six bowlers shared the wickets as they restricted the tourists to 7-143.
For Australia Tayla Vlaeminck, bowled 1-36 from her four and took the opening wicket of Georgia Plimmer (11 from 11).
Sophie Molineux claimed the key wicket of Amelia Kerr (7 from 5) with her first delivery, and Wareham achieved the same with her first ball, trapping Booke Halliday (5 from 9) to leave the White Ferns 3-44 in the eighth over.
Opener Bates found the boundary five times and loomed as key for the tourists but was brought undone by the in-form Annabel Sutherland, top-edging a short-pitched deliveries that ballooned up, with Alyssa Healy doing the rest of the work with the gloves.
Maddy Green (35 from 33) looked to provide the counterpunch alongside Izzy Gaze, but after they hit four fours in seven balls the 12th and 13th overs, New Zealand did not find the rope again through the remaining 7.4 overs.
At bat the home side started a little shaky, but an unbeaten half-century from Phoebe Litchfield guided Australia to victory.
The 21-year-old left-hander found the boundary 11 times in total – sealing the win with an empathic reverse sweep to the boundary – and she was ably assisted by Georgia Wareham (26 from 20), who hit three fours of her own in their 50-run stand.
Earlier Australia were reduced to 44-3 with Molly Penfold the pick of the White Ferns bowlers taking two wickets, while Leigh Kasperek, Lea Tahuhu and Brooke Halliday took one each
Australia now hold a 1-0 lead in the three-game series that is serving as preparation for next month’s T20 World Cup in the United Arab Emirates, with the second game to be played at the same venue on Sunday and the third and final in Brisbane on Tuesday.