New Zealand has beaten Australia for the first time in almost three years in remarkable circumstances in Sunday night's day-night cricket match at Telstra Dome.

Batsman Hamish Marshall and wicketkeeper Brendon McCullum took 22 runs off the third-last over of the match - bowled by Michael Kasprowicz - to charge back into the contest when the match looked gone.

From there the Black Caps scrambled home to win by four wickets.

They finished on 6-247 with two balls to spare with man-of-the-match Marshall 50 not out from 52 balls and McCullum unbeaten on 20 from 13 balls.

The Black Caps looked gone with three overs left and 32 needed, but McCullum hit two boundaries, Marshall another and when Kasprowicz sent a legside wide down to the boundary - for a five - the complexion of the match changed completely.

With five needed off the last over - bowled by Shane Watson - McCullum flicked a cheeky leg glance to the rope for four off the first delivery to level the scores.

He couldn't score off the next two balls but beat cover with the fourth ball of the over and punched the air in jubilation as he ran through to complete the match-winning single.

New Zealand's cause looked gone when the Kiwis lost Mathew Sinclair (48) and Nathan Astle (70) in the space of two overs to two dazzling pieces of fielding by Michael Clarke and Ricky Ponting respectively.

Clarke's back-handed flick to Andrew Symonds had Sinclair (48) ruled out by the third umpire and in the next over, Astle chipped Darren Lehmann to mid-on, where Ponting dived sideways to take a brilliant catch and wrest back control for his side.

From 1-128, the Kiwis had slumped to 3-131.

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