Brett Lee capped an "irresistible" case for a Test recall by breaking the 100-mile-an-hour barrier as Australia kicked New Zealand while it was down.

The world champions signed off on a 5-0 one-day series clean sweep in menacing style at Napier's McLean Park with a 122-run thumping.

Captain Ricky Ponting broke a string of records with a spectacular unbeaten 141 in Australia's 5-347 - it's second highest one-day total across the Tasman.

But it was Lee who had the capacity crowd gasping as he delivered a 160.8kph thunderbolt in the first over of the New Zealand (8-225) reply.

It was the second of two 160kph (100mph) missiles hurled at opener Craig Cumming and the fastest ball the blond tearaway has ever delivered.

Only Pakistani spearhead Shoaib Akhtar has officially recorded a faster reading - 161kph against NZ in Lahore in 2002.

"I was quite pleased to see that it was that quick because I was quite late on it," said Cumming after the match.

"The first over did seem to go by pretty quickly and I was quite pleased when I went down to Flem (captain Stephen Fleming) and he said it was probably the quickest it gets, and that was a bit of a relief to be honest."

Ponting admitted he had little reason to resist Lee's Test claims except for the form of his incumbent pace trio of Glenn McGrath, Jason Gillespie and Michael Kasprowicz.

Not to be outdone, Kasprowicz, the man who would lose out if Lee was promoted, was Australia's best bowler in taking 3-36 off 10 tight overs and unluckily missing a first-over hat-trick.

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