KEY POINTS:
Stand-in Australian captain Michael Clarke is on the record as describing a series loss to New Zealand as "unthinkable".
If New Zealand can defy expectation and take an unassailable 3-0 lead in the Chappell-Hadlee series at the Sydney Cricket Ground tonight, Clarke will find himself with a lot of thinking to do.
Daniel Vettori's men stand on the brink of creating history. A New Zealand side has never won an ODI series or tournament in Australia. In 2001-02 they famously knocked the Australians out of the finals of their World Series, before losing to South Africa in the finals. They also split the initial Chappell-Hadlee Trophy series in 2004-05, with the final match rained out at the Gabba. They have never won.
"They realise they are on the verge of something special," said coach Andy Moles, who was happy to declare all 14 players were at "100 per cent" fitness ahead of this afternoon's toss.
He credits his side's killer instinct to a captain who drives the team forward and demands continual improvement and, more specifically, to "exceptional bowling and fielding" in the first two matches.
Newly adopted Mumbaiker Kyle Mills is leading the attack superbly.
"He led us well in Perth and he led us again [at the MCG]," said grateful skipper Daniel Vettori. "It seems like when he starts well everyone else buys into the process. Our fielding has been outstanding and if those two things go well - Kyle bowls well and we field well - then it is a sign of a good day."
Mills is one of life's great mysteries.
He rarely gets the ball through at more than 135km/h, he shapes it away from the right-hander but the swing is never prodigious, and occasionally he catches the edge of the seam. He's accurate, but not a Ewen Chatfield-like metronome, yet he is ranked as the fifth-best bowler in ODI cricket and only a fool would argue that he doesn't deserve to be there.
Australia's left-handers, including Shaun Marsh, the under pressure David Warner, and Michael Hussey, have found him difficult to get away.
"Most international sides have left-handers in the top order so I'm pretty used to it," Mills said. "Adjusting your lines to a left-right partnership is the most difficult thing. I swing the ball back into the left-handers and early on I got a few lbws against Matthew Hayden and Adam Gilchrist, but being the class players they were they worked out what I was trying to do so I had to change my game plan."
Mills now tends to drop it back of length, sacrificing the chance of getting lbws but increasing the opportunities for catches and batsmen try to force balls that are not there to hit.
"We have very clear-cut plans for their batsmen," Mills continued. "Some of them were in place in the past as well but now we're actually executing."
They have plans for the class act in the field, Ricky Ponting, when he comes back today. In a piece of fuzzy logic the selectors lived to regret, Ponting was stood down for an enforced rest that was meant to cover the Melbourne and Sydney games even though it would surely have made more sense for him to miss the final South African ODI, as it was a dead rubber, and the first Chappell-Hadlee.
But he has received an 11th-hour call-up.
Not that New Zealand were complaining, under-strength themselves after injuries to Jacob Oram, Jesse Ryder and Scott Styris, when Ponting was missing.
"If you're asking me would I rather bowl at Ricky Ponting or Callum Ferguson, well there's only one answer," Mills quipped. "But in saying that Ponting has been under pressure all summer and we feel we can keep the pressure on for the rest of the series."
Mills' words betray a confidence in this camp that is rare in New Zealand teams. Asked whether he genuinely thought they could beat Australia three times on the bounce and wrap up the series, he did not hesitate: "Absolutely. Today they will be under pressure, they are struggling, it's a quick turnaround [from Melbourne], we've got momentum and if we play well from ball one I can't see why we wouldn't go 3-0 up."
As for Clarke, it's still officially "unthinkable". But even the ultra-confident batsman gave a clue to his real thinking when he joked sarcastically that he was "looking forward to his next press conference".
