AUCKLAND - One of the World Cup's biggest games pits high-flying New Zealand against four-time champions Australia at Auckland's Eden Park on Saturday in a match that could well be a dress rehearsal for the final. New Zealand are the team to beat in the tournament so far, with their eight-wicket thrashing of England last week their third win in as many pool matches after they defeated Sri Lanka and outlasted Scotland.
Co-hosts Australia and New Zealand, staging the World Cup for only the second-time in the tournament's 40-year history, are both eyeing top position in Pool A so that they face a relatively weaker team in the quarter-finals. Having endured the disappointment of losing the semi-final to eventual winners Pakistan when the World Cup was last co-hosted by the trans-Tasman rivals in 1992, New Zealand look better-equipped to win the tournament this time around.
In Brendon McCullum, New Zealand have an explosive batsman at the top of the order who can change the game as he proved during his whirlwind 25-ball 77 against England in Wellington. But Australia coach Darren Lehmann was confident his battery of fast bowlers could contain the New Zealand captain.
"He does hit them a long way, doesn't he?" Lehmann said. "He took the game on and he certainly does that, he plays a high-risk game, but there's a bit of a difference between 135km/h and 145 to 150km/h coming at him. It'll be a great challenge for both sides, he's going to certainly come at us and we've got some plans for him. It's going to be exciting -- New Zealand have been very impressive. It's going to be interesting to see how they play against us, I'm sure they'll be really aggressive, so it's going to be a cracker of A game."
Australia are slightly under-prepared, as, after they too thrashed England, by 111 runs, their second pool match against Bangladesh was washed out without a ball bowled last weekend. And Australia captain Michael Clarke in particular is short of match practice following a hamstring operation, with his planned comeback dashed by the rain that drenched Brisbane's Gabba ground. Clarke, who is set to replace George Bailey, has appeared in only two one-day internationals in the past year, getting injured in both of them, and has not played in any international match for 11 weeks. But Clarke and his Australian team-mates have the knack of doing well when it matters. In David Warner and Aaron Finch, Australia have a dynamic pair of opening batsmen backed up by the fast-improving Steven Smith and Mitchell Marsh.
Both teams will also look to exploit the unique dimensions of Eden Park, where top-edges or mis-hit shots can easily fly for fours and sixes given the ground's short straight boundaries However, both sides also have plenty of bowling firepower to call upon.
New Zealand hope Tim Southee, who recorded his country's best-ever ODI figures of seven for against England, recovers in time from a minor shoulder injury. Australia are likely to bolster their already impressive pace attack by bringing in Pat Cummins in place of Josh Hazlewood, with Mitchell Johnson and Mitchell Starc the spearheads.
New Zealand coach Mike Hesson tried to downplay the importance of Saturday's match by saying: "It's just another one of the round robin games and obviously it's going to be a good one." Australia will take heart from their impressive record of 11 wins out of 16 at Eden Park, including four of the last five. A sell-out 40,000 crowd is expected to watch the game, which will also see the winner take away the Chappell-Hadlee trophy that is contested when Australia and New Zealand meet in ODI cricket.