KEY POINTS:
Try as he might, Stephen Fleming has found if difficult to disagree with his most trenchant critics, conceding yesterday that most of the criticism aimed at his side over the past few weeks had been richly deserved.
On the eve of the Kiwi team's third tri-series one-dayer against Australia, the skipper refused to defend his team against a widespread thumbs-down, including pointed remarks about his captaincy.
New Zealand will be without injured fast-bowler Shane Bond for this afternoon's showdown, and will head into the contest having lost 17 of their most recent 19 ODIs against Australia, and six of their past eight games overall.
The form slump, coupled with coach John Bracewell's highly ill-advised rotation policy, has left the New Zealanders looking fragile as they near the halfway point of the tri-series - and runaway underdogs for this afternoon's game.
"We know we're under-achieving," said Fleming. "The comments and the pressure that goes along with that is just part and parcel of playing poorly. You've got to expect that, and I'd say it's been pretty justified.
"I've probably had a bit of stick as well, which is fair. If you don't perform, you open yourself up to criticism and negative comment. I can understand that."
Fleming's form with the bat has been questioned since Bracewell had the brainwave about resting him, but it was former team-mate Adam Parore who bit the hardest yesterday, claiming his old skipper had not only lost his touch with the bat, but also with his leadership.
While Fleming wasn't quite ready to agree with that, he believed the senior players in the team were all feeling the pressure of the situation, and the desperation was creating anxious and tentative performances.
"I thought my captaincy was strong in the first two games. I thought the options we took were good and created windows of opportunity. But we're probably too determined to do well and I think that's maybe where Adam's coming from.
"The desire to do well and climb out of this so-called form slump falls on the senior players, and we take it pretty seriously.
"I know I've felt a bit tight in the past couple of games, and that's probably a reflection of the way I've hit the ball."
Apart from missing Bond, New Zealand seem also likely to omit Jeetan Patel this afternoon, on the basis that the Sydney Cricket Ground pitch is looking green and sporting, and unsuited to 20 overs of spin.
If they follow the plan, the question will be whether they opt for an extra pace bowler in Michael Mason or Andre Adams, or whether they decide to gamble on just four frontline bowlers, and include an extra batsman in Hamish Marshall.
"This track looks like it might have some pace in it so it might be more of a seam attack that we consider," said Fleming. "That could give us a chance to bring in another batter and use the part-time bowling of the Astles and McMillans.
Asked if he feared the interchanging of players after today's game could cause a disruption and mean things get worse before they get better, Fleming said the team understood that they had to be a flexible unit - capable of changing shape in any situation.
"It will be disruptive but that shouldn't disrupt our performance.
"It shouldn't matter what side is put out - the performance should still reflect the fact that we're the best players in New Zealand."
New Zealand: Stephen Fleming (c), Brendon McCullum, Nathan Astle, Ross Taylor, Peter Fulton, Daniel Vettori, Hamish Marshall, Craig McMillan, James Franklin, Andre Adams, Shane Bond, Mark Gillespie, Michael Mason, Jeetan Patel.
Australia: Adam Gilchrist, Matthew Hayden, Ricky Ponting (c), Brad Hodge, Michael Clarke, Andrew Symonds, Mike Hussey, Cameron White, Brett Lee, Mitchell Johnson, Nathan Bracken, Glenn McGrath, Ben Hilfenhaus.
