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SYDNEY - Five years ago Adelaide provided one of the highlights of New Zealand's memorable tri-series cricket campaign when they hammered their hosts on Australia Day.
Tomorrow they will settle for a win, any kind of win, against England at Adelaide Oval after they watched another likely victory pass them by against the world champions here.
"It's huge, a must-win game and nothing else will suffice," last night's New Zealand hero Craig McMillan said after New Zealand stretched Australia to a two-wicket victory with eight balls to spare, chasing 219.
With four consecutive losses, three of them in the current series, New Zealand's World Cup hopes are hardly shining like a beacon.
Conversely, they nearly did enough to beat mighty Australia before a 36,000-strong crowd at the SCG on a sweltering afternoon.
Another top-order collapse, a dropped catch by James Franklin off man of the match Michael Clarke on 16, and a botched run out of Michael Hussey by Hamish Marshall and Daniel Vettori was crucial.
It overshadowed McMillan's rejuvenation with the bat, the early inroads of pacemen Franklin and Michael Mason and the excellent mid-innings bowling of Vettori and Mark Gillespie.
Confidence is slowly rising but still the losing habit is proving New Zealand's worst enemy as they eyeball an England side who beat them in Hobart and pushed Australia close in Brisbane.
"It's massively important. Tonight (Sunday) was massively important," Fleming said.
"Time is running out if we keep talking about the next game, next game. It's got to be the next one."
Yesterday Fleming conceded team selection was influenced by their batting slump, with Brendon McCullum pushed down to No 7 for stability and Hamish Marshall returning to No 3 where he got a third ball duck against Brett Lee.
By stacking the batting, it meant spinner Jeetan Patel got a rest and New Zealand were short of bowling options at the end as McMillan and Nathan Astle were left. Fleming said the McCullum experiment was "on the backburner".
"We just weren't getting what we wanted and it was causing more concern than delivering good results. Even Brendon's form with the gloves may have been a factor of him trying too hard at the top.
"We wanted to settle it back down, get him back into a position where he's accustomed to and put the emphasis back on the batters."
Fleming confirmed allrounder Jacob Oram, who flew to Adelaide yesterday after a long recovery from a hamstring strain, would return to the side.
The most heat is now on Fleming and Nathan Astle at the top.
They were reunited as openers yesterday but Astle was out fourth ball to Lee and Fleming spent 63 minutes scoring 12 before skying a catch.
"There's pressure on us all, no doubt about that. We're approaching World Cup time and the run production isn't there, so pretty much every batter's got to take some deep breaths.
"We're pretty realistic about where we are. We're pretty amazed the way we've played and still competed with England and Australia. There are areas we're competing well and creating enough pressure to win the game but there's just so much more we can give.
"The team's more frustrated than disappointed."
Australia's four wins from four have already confirmed them in the three-match finals with more than half the round-robin matches remaining.
Captain Ricky Ponting expected Tuesday's match would go to the wire.
"It's a tough one. Both sides have given us a good run for our money in the last two games and they're both very capable one-day sides on their day.
"The thing standing out for both sides is a bit like us, the top order batting just hasn't fired."
- NZPA
