Chris Cairns: The Aussies are the best but they may lose balance

With the Australians here this week, the upcoming one-day series looms as a contest between two very good teams - one top heavy with front-line batsmen and bowlers and the other packed with depth with bat and ball.

There is no denying the formidable task we face over the next couple of weeks to topple the No 1 side in world cricket, but in this form of the game there are areas within the Australian camp that may be exploited.

Australia has considerable strength with their batsmen who are adept at both forms of the game, test and one day. Adam Gilchrist is a proven match-winner but now that Michael Clarke has ousted Matthew Hayden, he'll have to prove he is worthy of keeping one of the best batsmen in the game out of the team. Hayden will be breathing down Clarke's neck to regain his place.

Their middle order is pretty settled with Ricky Ponting, Damien Martyn, Andrew Symonds and Simon Katich. The dilemma for the Australians is further down. Who do they opt for? Shane Watson has filled the role of allrounder but, with his injury, do they risk the debutant James Hopes or maybe go for a front-line attack of Glenn McGrath, Brett Lee, Jason Gillespie and Andrew Kasprowicz backed up by Brad Hogg?

This leaves them seriously short on batting depth. If they opt for three of their four seamers and play the extra batter, the Aussies are short on the bowling front, as we will exploit their fourth and fifth bowler better than during the recent tri-series in Australia.

I will be interested to see how they go because it looks as though they could create an unbalanced line-up if they were to misjudge our conditions.

As for the Black Caps, our strength lies in our depth with both bat and ball. Our batting line-up could well include batsmen with test centuries all the way down to number nine and our bowling stocks have been increased now Nathan Astle is back. There is no doubt in my mind we will miss Jacob Oram as he is a world class player and someone who performs consistently. He is also an excellent fielder. It is the sensible thing to be resting him now to have a chance of being fit for the test series.

As for fielding, I think both teams are evenly matched and this area will be critical. Often when two evenly matched teams compete, fielding determines the victor. If every chance offered is taken, you can stifle the opposition's ability to win a match.

The precursor to this series is the Twenty20 match and having read a variety of opinions from around the world, my own opinion is: Wait and see how it evolves.

Let the public judge what is being offered. They'll decide if it has a future or not. The players should go out there and have fun.

- Herald on Sunday