KEY POINTS:
Craig McMillan would like nothing better than to watch Aussie coach John Buchanan choking on his words after tonight's tri-series one-dayer between New Zealand and the world champs.
One of the more feisty and outspoken players in the New Zealand camp, McMillan has seized on Buchanan's mid-week comments regarding the disappointing standard of Australia's opponents, saying he was keen to give the hosts everything they were asking for.
Buchanan offered a scathing assessment of England and New Zealand in an article published on Cricket Australia's website, claiming the opposition batting was so bad that his team's bowling and fielding was not being placed under adequate pressure.
The theme was continued yesterday when England were bowled out for 110 at Adelaide, prompting skipper Ricky Ponting to suggest that his team's practices were proving as valuable as the match-days.
McMillan, now almost assured of a place in New Zealand's World Cup squad following the sudden retirement of his team-mate and fellow batting all-rounder Nathan Astle, believes Australia are far from invincible, despite their unbeaten run this summer.
"He [Buchanan] can say what he likes but we've already had one close game against Australia (at Sydney last weekend), and there's no reason why we can't go one step further here at Perth.
"If we'd taken the chances we had at Sydney we probably would have won," he said in reference to New Zealand's poor fielding effort, highlighted by James Franklin's bungled catch off the bat of Michael Clarke and the missed run-out of Michael Hussey.
"I thought we competed pretty well. There's still some areas we want to improve on and we're in the process of making sure that happens - but the bottom line for us is that we had our chances and didn't take them."
The major difference this evening, however, is the return of Jacob Oram - man-of-the-match in Adelaide - whose presence will ensure New Zealand are able to carry five front-line bowlers into the match, with part-time back-up from McMillan.
New Zealand could also be strengthened by the return of Shane Bond, who missed the Sydney match with a back complaint, and Kyle Mills, who has been brought into the squad at the expense of Andre Adams.
Coach John Bracewell has already confirmed that Bond wouldn't be risked for both tonight's match and the game against England on Tuesday, but has left open the question to which match he will concentrate on.
The dilemma for Bracewell is that, while Bond has an outstanding record against Australia, his paceman is likely to reap even greater success on Tuesday against an England team that have posted back-to-back innings scores of 120 and 110.
New Zealand are leading England by a bonus point on the tri-series ladder.
New Zealand: Stephen Fleming (c), Lou Vincent, Ross Taylor, Peter Fulton, Hamish Marshall, Craig McMillan, Brendon McCullum, Daniel Vettori, James Franklin, Andre Adams, Shane Bond, Mark Gillespie, Michael Mason, Jeetan Patel.
Australia: Adam Gilchrist, Matthew Hayden, Ricky Ponting , Brad Hodge, Michael Clarke, Andrew Symonds, Mike Hussey, Cameron White, Brett Lee, Mitchell Johnson, Nathan Bracken, Glenn McGrath, Ben Hilfenhaus, Brad Hogg.
