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KEY POINTS:
Daniel Vettori will eyeball Brad Haddin in today's twenty20 international when the infamous wicketkeeper stands in as Australia's captain for the "tie-breaker" following Friday night's soppy conclusion to the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy.
Haddin will lead Australia in the absence of Ricky Ponting, Michael Clarke and Michael Hussey, resuming hostilities with the Black Caps after his role in Neil Broom's "bowled" dismissal in the opening match in Perth.
The wicketkeeper's gloves broke the stumps before Clarke's delivery reached them and Haddin quickly defended claims he was a cheat.
But it did not stop comparisons to Greg Dyer's botched test catch in 1987 and Trevor Chappell's underarm.
Haddin, who scored 88 not out in the Gabba washout on Friday, was booed loudly when batting in Melbourne and was shown with his gloves in front of the wickets again during game four.
Vettori, who felt Haddin should have "made more noise" about Broom's dismissal at the time, played down his imminent meeting with his new counterpart at the toss.
"He's just a captain. Cricket captains don't really go head-to-head," Vettori said. "They just shake hands and flip the coin. It's pretty easy, really."
Haddin hasn't talked to Vettori since they cleared the air in the aftermath of the dispute.
"We spoke about it after the incident and we haven't spoken since," Haddin said.
"I wouldn't speak to him normally - it's just pleasantries and saying, 'hello'. But during the series we haven't had much contact with any of the New Zealand players. Things have been fine."
The Black Caps will face an Australian side that is almost unrecognisable from the outfit they were in sight of toppling in Brisbane before rain stole their chance of a first one-day series win in Australia.
While Vettori's battlers see the twenty20 international as a chance to break the 2-2 Chappell-Hadlee deadlock, Australia are using it to rest key players before tomorrow's departure for South Africa.
Friday's cruel washout, which came with Martin Guptill and Brendon Diamanti needing a highly achievable 33 from 36 balls to take the contest, left the series squared and Vettori wants to use today's match to prove the team were capable of winning.
"Probably, personally for us, [it is a tie-breaker]. But overall there's nothing there to suggest it's a tie-breaker," he said.
Vettori was disappointed but philosophical about the result at the Gabba in a match that started more than five hours late because of heavy rain.
The weather was so bad that some Australians went back to their hotels to pick up their bags in the hope they could catch a flight to Sydney, but the Gabba's sieve-like drainage allowed a start and initially reduced the match to 22-overs a side.
That came back by two after Australia posted 168-4, with New Zealand needing 156 off 20 overs.
The Black Caps began their chase in the wet weather, knowing they had to win to take the trophy after Australia held it from their success in 2007-08.
"If we lost, we lost," Vettori said. "At least we had an opportunity to try to win it."
Despite the waterlogged conditions, there were no calls from the players for a reserve day to be used for such an important match.
Rescheduling the fifth fixture was impossible due to today's match and the cramped itinerary set by Australia, who publicly try not to view the series as an annual inconvenience.
Vettori did not wish for a spare day to ensure a fairer end to the hard-fought contest - and more rain was falling in Brisbane yesterday.
"Not with how tough the schedule has been," he said. "There's a lot of things that happen with cricket and this is one of them. It's part of the game and everyone deals with it."
It was a sad and slippery end to the campaign that started so brightly for the tourists, with victories in Perth and Melbourne before Australia hit back when their batting clicked.
"If you asked me before this series then 2-2 - we would have been stoked with that," Vettori said.
"But after going 2-0 up and having opportunities to win, there's a little bit of a sense of disappointment at the end result.
"You just look at those opportunities that you missed out on when you get in that position. But to come over here and do so well, I'm proud of the lot of them."
The Australians will also rest fast bowler Mitchell Johnson, who has picked up a minor ankle complaint, and the Blacks Caps have losses of their own following injuries to Kyle Mills and Ross Taylor.
Mills was due to fly home yesterday after aggravating his right Achilles tendon during his excellent opening spell of 2 for 22.
Vettori was hopeful Mills - "our most important one-day bowler" - would be fine for the India series, which begins with two twenty20s from February 25.
Taylor is also a doubt for the SCG after tweaking his hamstring while batting and was dismissed heaving wildly at the ball after receiving treatment.
Diamanti, who made his one-day debut on Friday, travelled with the twenty20 squad as Mills' replacement while Peter Fulton stayed on as cover for Taylor.
The injuries make it harder for the Black Caps to give out-of-form opener Brendon McCullum a break after his poor run.
McCullum was out second ball for two in Brisbane, taking his series tally to 114 in the five games. He started the tour with a hip flexor injury and when that eased he was struck on the right shoulder by Mills when standing up to the stumps in Adelaide.
Despite his commitment, he has not been able to turn the passion into high-level performance.
Since the Bangladesh series in October, he has managed just 232 runs in 13 one-dayers against Bangladesh, West Indies and Australia.
"I'd like him to keep playing," Vettori said. "He's the sort of guy who wants to keep playing as well.
"We get a little bit of a break when we get back home before the India series, with some domestic games on. That's probably the more opportune time to rest him."
McCullum's counterpart Haddin was the star for Australia during his 65-ball explosion and finished the innings with a 98-run stand in 10.5 overs with Callum Ferguson, who sped to 55 not out from 35 balls.
New Zealand threatened to implode when losing 5-33 in the middle of the pursuit, with Fulton (22), Taylor (4), Broom (0), Grant Elliott (0) and Mills (1) departing in the frantic quest for quick runs.
But Guptill continued to plunder, hitting five fours and three big sixes, and chopped the run-rate to less than a run a ball for the final eight overs.
Guptill and Diamanti were doing so well they hadn't even called for the two-over batting powerplay when the rain came, leaving them stranded at 123-6 after 14 overs.
They were ahead on Duckworth-Lewis calculations but 20 overs were needed to constitute a match.
"The powerplay would have played a big part in it," Vettori said.
"If we got those runs in those two overs, with Martin batting the way he was, we could have been able to push for victory. If we'd lost wickets it could have gone Australia's way."
Ponting said the game was in the balance when the weather closed in and was relieved that Australia ended the series clinging to the trophy.
"We've been pretty happy with the last couple of performances," he said. "A lot of our batsmen have shown consistency and improvement during the series. I thought we were starting to get things back on track.
"It ended up being a very good game that, unfortunately, there wasn't a result in."
* Peter English is Cricinfo Australasia editor
