KEY POINTS:
Some years ago I got into a hotel lift a couple of hours after New Zealand had beaten Australia in a test at Eden Park.
The only other person in the lift was an Australian player, a blond smoker with spiky hair. To break the silence as we climbed floor after floor, I offered a spot of hugely meaningful small talk to fill the air, something about defeat being tough to take.
The other guy grunted: "Yeah, especially against those pricks."
This to-the-point exchange came to mind as New Zealand's coach John Bracewell this week dismissed the notion that Australians don't take transtasman clashes all that seriously.
Contrast that with another Australian player, who'd best not be named for fear of getting him court-martialled for being soft, that worst of cricketing traits.
During the Chappell-Hadlee series in December 2005, this player confided over a quiet beer that the Aussies didn't mind losing the odd game - odd game, mind - to New Zealand because they got on pretty well.
But those @!%#& South Africans? That was a very different story.
That was before Australia arrived last summer minus Ricky Ponting and Adam Gilchrist and handed the captaincy to Mike Hussey for what they no doubt assumed would be a straightforward hit-and-run job.
They were unlucky with Brett Lee and Michael Clarke being removed by injury, but paid for their inability to prevent New Zealand overhauling targets of 336 and 346 at Eden Park and Hamilton on two exhilarating days of batting pyrotechnics.
But when the fourth edition of the series starts in Adelaide next Friday night, who will attach more importance to the outcome? My bet is it will be even stevens.
New Zealand love tackling Australians at anything. They've arrived after an ordinary trip to South Africa but if they're smart they'll dwell on a 5-3 overall lead in the Chappell-Hadlee matches, and go flat out to keep their noses in front. After all, our test and ODI records against the neighbours are not flash.
But Australia won't take liberties this time round. Ponting has a knack of adopting a Charles Bronson, narrow-eyed look. To those who don't know him, it could be confused with a man struggling to read in a poor light, but in fact it's his game face.
You don't think he'll want to bury the Black Caps as payback for last season? Think again.
There was a time when Australians took a dim view of New Zealand's cricket ability. They came once in 1946, won in a couple of days, figured it was a no-hope backwater and didn't resume test relations until 1973.
At times since then, New Zealand haven't given them much reason to rate transtasman competition as a matter of pressing business.
But there is a suspicion that the Aussies respect New Zealand's ODI ability, even if their test contests are a mix of scaling occasional lofty heights and plenty of dog days.
Back to Bracewell. He correctly made the point that Australia take their cricket very seriously indeed, but that there are times when they need to be sensible in how they get the best out of their best players. Fair enough.
Some games, some opponents are perhaps treated more seriously than others. But it's all a matter of degrees. And New Zealand's players will recognise next week as another reminder of why they are playing the game - to test themselves against the finest.
