Australia hit with brutal blow as gun all-rounder Ash Gardner ruled out of three-match series against Kiwis

Australian all-rounder Ash Gardner has been ruled out of the remainder of the New Zealand series after suffering a fracture in her right index finger.

Gardner bowled 14 balls before she was forced out of the action in the 17th over as she injured her finger attempting to collect a return catch from Sophie Devine.

Cricket Australia confirmed on Saturday the 27-year-old will undergo further scans and seek specialist advice upon return home to Sydney.

READ MORE: Boxing icon George Foreman dead at 76

READ MORE: Irritated Kyrgios thrashed in 21-minute collapse

READ MORE: Young Aussie sprinter wins medal in thrilling race

Queensland and Brisbane Heat all-rounder Charli Knott has been called into the squad as her replacement ahead of the team's second of three T20I battles.

Gardner's absence is a brutal blow for the Australians, but her talent was not needed for her side's 138 run chase on Friday.

As Beth Mooney had done on so many occasions in Australian run chases en route to 200 international appearances, the champion wicketkeeper-batter dominated with the blade to lift her side to victory.

Australia chased down a total of 137 with 39 balls to spare in an eight-wicket win over New Zealand to mark Mooney's milestone match in fitting fashion at Auckland's Eden Park.

Mooney struck 75 from 42 balls, including 10 fours and a six, to go with a catch behind the stumps in a player-of-the-match performance.

The four-time World Cup winner was supported superbly by opening partner Georgia Voll, who peeled off 50 from 31 including nine fours.

The winning runs were hit when Mooney danced the wicket to quick Rosemary Mair and drove the ball with gorgeous timing through cover for four, completing the chase in the 14th over.

That beautiful stroke followed a powerful display of batting in which Mooney walked down the wicket to fast bowler Lea Tahuhu and pumped her for six over long-on.

Earlier in the day, the Kiwis were 2-137 when their innings came to a close, with Australian quicks Darcie Brown and Tahlia McGrath striking for the visitors.

Mooney was asked post-win how the team would celebrate victory and her milestone match.

"The staff and the girls had a couple of speeches for me in our team meeting yesterday, and put on a video of some of my really close mates and family back home saying a few nice words," Mooney told TVNZ.

"So I'm feeling pretty lucky and valued in this Australian line-up to have been given the opportunity to run out there for 200 games.

"It probably just means I'm getting a bit older and I've had 200 warm-ups behind me, so hopefully there's a few less than that to go."

The runs flowed as Mooney and Voll settled into their work, as the former noted.

"A few came out of the middle early in my innings and out of Georgia's bat early in the innings, so that got us off to a pretty nice start," Mooney said.

"Sometimes that [accelerating the run-rate] can just happen naturally if you're on a bit of a roll with the bat. It's really hard to stop when batters are going free-flowing like that, so we found that pretty easy in the power play. Obviously we got 70-odd off the power play, which is pretty outrageous, I thought."

The second of three T20s will be played at Mount Maunganui on Sunday and the series will wrap up in Wellington next Wednesday.