Australia's T20 World Cup defence is off to a horror start after the Black Caps recorded an enormous victory to open the Super 12 round at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Saturday evening.

New Zealand got off to an excellent start after being sent in to bat by the Australians, with young gun Finn Allen putting on a quality display of power hitting during the powerplay.

He would ultimately wind up with 42 off 16 before losing his stumps to Josh Hazlewood, however, the start he and wicketkeeper Devon Conway made kept the Black Caps ticking along at well over ten runs per over during the powerplay.

Conway would ultimately bat out the innings, ending with 92 from just 58 balls in an excellent innings to kickstart the tournament.

New Zealand did at times struggle to keep the score ticking over to the same standard they had set during the powerplay, however, a late cameo from Jimmy Neesham, combined with some sloppy bowling in line and length from Australia, saw the Black Caps ultimately wind up with 200.

FULL SCORECARD, MATCH COMMENTARY

It was a score which Australia would never get close to, the differences in batting - particularly when it came to percentage of dot balls and regular fall of wickets - between the two sides stark.

David Warner would be the first to fall for the tournament hosts, but it was a regular fall of wickets as the pressure built and required run rate built.

Tim Southee and Trent Boult got things off to an excellent start, backed up by the work of Mitchell Santner and Ish Sodhi as New Zealand took the pace off the ball.

Only Glenn Maxwell held his own as he made 28, but it was one-way traffic as New Zealand ran away with an enormous victory.

Australia will now head to Perth to play Sri Lanka, before they take on England in Melbourne on Friday.

It's likely that game against England could now determine whether Australia have a chance of making it through to the semi-finals, provided they manage to win all of their other remaining contests against Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and Ireland.

Match summary

New Zealand 3/200 (20) (Devon Conway 92*, Finn Allen 42, Josh Hazlewood 2/41) defeat Australia 10/111 (17.1) (Glenn Maxwell 28, Tim Southee 3/6, Mitchell Santner 3/31)