KEY POINTS:
It's as if the Aussies had been just waiting for Jacob Oram.
The first opposition cricketer to capture the imagination of the Australian public this season, the gentle giant has been the No 1 media request of the week after his batting rampages in Perth, where he reignited an initially tedious summer with two innings of breathtaking savagery.
Channel Nine's commentators have been screaming his praises, bar patrons toasting his strike-power, and people in the street have started giving him a double-take, possibly to check whether he wears a cape and superhero outfit as much as to confirm his identity.
Having been rendered almost catatonic by the one-sidedness of the Ashes and England's embarrassing slide in the tri-series, Australians have been desperate for a decent contest and are starting to view Oram as a sign of hope.
And it's not hard to see why after the tall left-hander smashed 86 against England at Adelaide, New Zealand's fastest ODI century (71 balls) against Australia at Perth, and then turned on the after-burners two days later against England again, posting 54 off just 33 balls.
In the process, a batting average that languished at 18.68 before his comeback match against England at Adelaide jumped to 21.44; his most recent four innings realising 261 runs at a Pontingesque 87.00.
Oram is as bemused about the dramatic transformation as anyone, but agrees he has never enjoyed such a purple patch, in which everything he's tried has become a complete success.
"I probably haven't struck the ball so well, so consistently before," he said.
"I've sort of had periods where I've hit it clean, but over here everything I've tried and planned has come off.
"The other night the plan was to see off [Monty] Panesar and have a dip at [Jamie] Dalrymple when he came back on. That worked perfectly.
"We decided to hold off when [Andrew] Flintoff bowled the 48th, so we could have a big crack at [Chris] Tremlett's 49th - and that worked perfectly as well. Everything's turning to gold at the moment - and long may it continue."
Destined to be compared to his highly respected predecessor Chris Cairns for the rest of his career, Oram revealed that he was in contact with the former all-rounder after guiding New Zealand home against England at Adelaide.
That was the day the 28-year-old was described in one Australian newspaper preview as a "poor man's Chris Cairns", something Oram wasted no time in sharing with his former teammate via a text message.
"He had a laugh about it," Oram said. "He texted me after the Australian game [at Perth] as well.
"I told him I was happy with the batting but had to get the bowling going now - and he replied, saying the hardest part of an all-rounder's job is to get both skills working at the same time.
"He reckoned it only happened a handful of times in his entire career.
"It was nice to hear that from such a great all-rounder; saying that it's a bloody hard thing to do."
Oram regards Cairns as New Zealand's finest all-rounder.
Sir Richard Hadlee was "obviously damned good" but Cairns was a more balanced all-rounder in terms of what he could offer with the bat and ball.
In particular, Oram said, Cairns' match-winning habit with the bat, such as when he made an unbeaten century in the final of the 2000 Champions Trophy, and another at the Gabba in the 2001-02 tri-series, was evidence of his game-breaking ability.
"I remember him always telling me that an all-rounder's job is to blow the game wide open," Oram said.
"But it's all very well when you can play like him.
"I'm probably a little more conservative but I know what he was saying. As an all-rounder you play a pivotal role in the middle-order and at first and second change, and you've got a job to do."
For all that, he still shies away from the suggestion of being the next Chris Cairns, preferring instead the stance taken by England's Flintoff, who once said he "didn't want to be the next Ian Botham", he wanted "to be the first Andrew Flintoff".
Oram, who lives with his fiancee Mara and his much-loved pet labrador Leo on the outskirts of Palmerston North, is a mess of contradictions - expressive and extroverted yet private and subdued; strong and demonstrative yet quiet and understated.
To be married at the end of next year, he pines for seclusion and space, and would like to buy a bigger slice of land to have another dog, and - as much as anything else - to be free of neighbours or suburbia.
If he was to be granted another wish it would probably involve staying fit and available for the rest of his career, given he's already had to sit out large chunks of time while recuperating from a host of injuries.
So regular have been the setbacks in recent years that his father, a physiotherapist, booked fully refundable air-tickets to Australia in August - and was able to cancel them when Oram was ruled out of the start of the series.
But fit again, Oram has shown enough to Australians to increase his billing for tomorrow's one-dayer at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, particularly after smashing a dozen sixes in his past three games.
He said the side practised their long hitting as much as any other facet of their game, especially the highly effective cross-batted shots over straight mid-wicket and wide long-on - known in the old days as a wild slog.
"Firstly, being a left-hander, if I open up my front hip, it gives me an excellent hitting angle against the right-arm over the wicket bowler. It also means, for me, that I'm accessing my strongest hitting zone - my power-arc.
"We practise it a lot. It probably started a few years ago when we were playing Pakistan and South Africa at home. I remember watching the South Africans practising it at training.
"It always used to carry a stigma of being a bit agricultural but it's such an important facet of the game. So we practise it."
