Australia captain Ricky Ponting saluted his pace bowlers for setting up a comprehensive seven-wicket victory over New Zealand in their World Cup Group A encounter in Nagpur.

Mitchell Johnson picked up four for 33 and Shaun Tait claimed three for 35 to dismiss the Kiwis for a moderate 206 with nearly five overs to spare.

In reply, openers Shane Watson (61) and Brad Haddin (55) put on 131 from just 109 balls to put the defending champions on course for a comfortable victory, which was achieved in the 34th over with seven Australian wickets intact.

Ponting credited his fast bowlers for bringing up their second straight win of the tournament and singled out Johnson for special praise.

"Johnson was outstanding today. Brett (Lee) has been bowling well for over three months now. Tait has been impressive since the time he returned to the side," a relaxed Ponting said.

"We said right at the start of the tournament, if our fast bowlers bowl as well as they can, it can't matter who we play.

"They could have actually been better with the new ball. The fact that they took wickets early meant I did not have to fall back on Watson through the day."

Losing captain Daniel Vettori regretted that his batsmen failed to rise to the occasion, but hoped the team will put the defeat behind them and gear up for their next game against Zimbabwe.

"It was a disappointing performance with the bat. We got bowled out for 206, which was always not going to be enough against a team like Australia," Vettori said.

"We have to move past this quickly and play well against Zimbabwe in seven-eight days. There are always areas to improve - the fielding was outstanding, but the bowlers need to back it up."