Richard Boock: Go on, give us a shock

New Zealand will head into unenviable, but certainly not uncharted territory when they square off against Australia tomorrow.

Quite apart from the strength of the opposition, New Zealand's road to the Chappell-Hadlee series has been strewn with tales of the hapless and hopeless, leaving them with a mind-boggling assignment over the next three games.

The potted story so far is of a team who failed their examinations miserably in South Africa, squandering numerous opportunities until it seemed they'd forgotten how to win. The top-order batsmen, with the exception of Lou Vincent and Scott Styris, didn't fire a shot, and the leading strike-bowler - Shane Bond - underwhelmed.

Add the withdrawal of skipper Stephen Fleming, the fact that New Zealand has now slid to No 7 on the ICC rankings, and the none-too-encouraging news of the team shrink already being involved, and it's clear the portents are not good.

But maybe we shouldn't write them off yet.

If New Zealand have mastered any strategy over their international history, it's the ability to stun Australia with a once-in-a-blue-moon performance, quite often at the most unpredictable time.

It happened in the 1992 World Cup match at Eden Park, again at Cardiff in the 1999 tournament, lasted for a month during the 2000-01 VB Series, and made a return at last year's inaugural Chappell-Hadlee ODI at Melbourne.

That match, played under the roof of the Docklands arena, was almost the perfect example of New Zealand's capacity to make something happen after an outrageously dire lead-in period.

Up until then, New Zealand had become the laughing stock of Australia after being cleaned up 2-0 in the test series, losing by an innings and 156 at Brisbane and by 213 at Adelaide.

To make matters worse, their bowling attack was so harmless at the Gabba that Glenn McGrath and Jason Gillespie each scored half-centuries while adding an improbable 114 runs for the final wicket.

It was only marginally better the following week at Adelaide, when Justin Langer hit a double-century to set the scene for Australia's slow but completely methodical strangulation of New Zealand, completed on the fifth day.

So you can understand how Australian fans were taken aback when, only days later, Fleming's mob ambushed their hosts in the first Chappell-Hadlee match at Melbourne, winning by four wickets with a comfortable two balls to spare.

Australia had posted 246, fuelled by Adam Gilchrist's whirlwind 68 and Darren Lehmann's half-century, but were prevented from reaching a more impressive total by Daniel Vettori's slow left-arm spin.

From the threatening position of 121 for two in the 21st over, Australia were restricted by Vettori (three for 31), Chris Cairns (three for 39) and Scott Styris (none for 35) and gradually lost momentum through the second half of the innings.

The New Zealand fielding effort was also notable for the magnificent one-handed diving catch by Mathew Sinclair, who ran full tilt around the boundary to provide a sensational end to the innings of Matthew Hayden.

New Zealand's reply was anchored by deliberate innings from Nathan Astle (70) and Sinclair (48), before man-of-the-match Hamish Marshall led his team home with an unbeaten 50 off 52 balls, assisted by a late flurry from Brendon McCullum.

The second match at Sydney always seemed destined to go Australia's way after they scored 261 batting first and New Zealand slumped to 166 for eight in reply, with only Vettori, Kyle Mills and the injured Chris Harris still "live".

However, Vettori made 33, Mills crashed four mighty sixes in an unbeaten 44, and Harris batted with an arm in a sling before McGrath ended the resistance, with just 18 runs required from 17 balls.

The 'decider" at Brisbane was then rained out without a ball being bowled, leaving the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy still to be won for the first time.

One day rankings

Matches Points Rating

1. Australia 27 3672 136

2. South Africa 27 3197 118

3. Pakistan 29 3363 116

4. India 40 4348 109

5. Sri Lanka 28 3041 109

6. England 22 2389 109

7. New Zealand 25 2705 108

8. West Indies 22 1980 90

9. Zimbabwe 23 1012 44

10. Bangladesh 23 322 14