KEY POINTS:
As Daniel Vettori's men prepare for action across the Tasman on Sunday, David Leggat recalls New Zealand's most significant one-day memories against our cousins from over the ditch.
1: Feb 1 1981, Melbourne
Result: Australia won by six runs
The grand daddy of all 112 ODIs between the countries. Indeed, this match has strong claims to be the most famous of all one-day internationals.
It was only the ninth ODI between the two yet events that day will live on as long as the game is played.
This list is chronological, apart from this one, which has to have No 1 beside it, if not necessarily for the cricket played that day at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
The events are well known. Australia made 235 for four, of which captain Greg Chappell hit 90. Then perhaps the game's finest batsman, by the end of the day he was cricket's black knight.
In the 50s, he was brilliantly caught in the deep by Martin Snedden diving forward. Chappell stood his ground, claiming to be unsure whether the catch was fair.
Umpires Peter Cronin and Don Weser lamely reckoned they were watching the batsmen grounding their bats in the crease and didn't see whether Snedden pouched it safely or not.
Call that a touchpaper moment. Then New Zealand, battling valiantly to get up in this the third final of the series, needed 15 to win off the final over, bowled by allrounder Trevor Chappell.
Richard Hadlee hit a boundary, then went lbw; Ian Smith gathered a couple of twos before being bowled. So Brian McKechnie, who two years earlier kicked the match-winning penalty to beat Wales in Cardiff in hugely dramatic circumstances at the death, stepped in, needing to hit a six to tie the match. A win was out of the question, bar a Chappell no ball.
But Chappell senior was taking no chances, ordering his brother to bowl underarm. McKechnie blocked the ball then tossed his bat away; Bruce Edgar, who had quietly made his way to 102 not out, gave the bowler the fingers.
Cue pandemonium. Chappell became cricket's Darth Vader. He was vilified, and not just outside Australia. His action was cricket's ultimate dirty play. Politicians joined in, as always sensing a spot of cheap publicity. New Zealand Prime Minister Robert Muldoon suggested Australia's yellow playing strip was an appropriate colour.
Chappell the elder was castigated, including by many Australians who saw it as the ultimate dirty play.
Years later, Chappell admitted to feeling walls crushing in on him, blaming the demands of the job, the relentless grind of the scheduling, wanting to end the series as soon as possible.
"I wasn't fit. I mean, I was mentally wrung out, I was physically wrung out and I was fed up with the whole system, things that seemed to be just closing in on us, and I suppose in my own case I felt they were closing in on me and it was a cry for help," he told the ABC.
He knew his actions would cause a stir, if not the furore which ensued, but "at that moment I couldn't have cared less".
Trevor Chappell, by far the poorest of the three cricketing brothers, will forever be remembered for one reason. So too the game.
If Australia had wanted to beef up the promotion of the one-day game in Australia, and had sat down and strategised for weeks how to go about it, they couldn't have done any better than their skipper managed in a moment of madness. Was it good for the game? No. Did it turn the one-day game on its head and spin off into a huge publicity bonanza which we're still talking about today? Absolutely.
>>Video: The underarm bowling incident
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2: Nov 23, 1980, Adelaide
Result: New Zealand won by 3 wickets
What's so special about this match? It was New Zealand's first ODI against the Australians in Australia, and it was the first win over them too. This gets in here for those reasons, just pipping the one-run win at Sydney two months later. Tough call.
Previously, New Zealand had played two ODIs, at Dunedin and Christchurch six years earlier, and lost both.
Australia's 217 for nine was notable for Ewen Chatfield's five for 34, the starting point of a fine career as one of the country's best limited-overs exponents, and John Bracewell took four catches, as a substitute.
New Zealand got to 219 for seven with five balls to spare, thanks to John Wright's 60 and a pair of thirties from Geoff Howarth and Hadlee.
It was also the start of the most memorable period of New Zealand-Australia ODI cricket.
It was new, it was exciting, there were bumper crowds, the famous beige playing strips, viewers glued to the TV, controversies abounding and New Zealand heroes created.
It was New Zealand's first taste of tri-series cricket in Australia, the first of 27 ODIs they played in Australia in the space of a tick over three years. They couldn't get enough of us for a time. Halcyon days.
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3: Feb 13, 2983, Melbourne
Result: Australia won by 149 runs
The second final of that summer and Australia were romping it. Having rattled up 302 for eight, a massive score for the times, courtesy of opener Steve Smith's 117 and 91 from Graeme Wood, they had New Zealand 44 for six. Game over.
So Lance Cairns decided to go out with a bang. In the space of three overs, he larruped six sixes out of the vast MCG arena.
Two apiece came off Ken Macleay, Rodney Hogg and Dennis Lillee, clean, immensely powerful blows that had the crowd in raptures. The most memorable, a one-handed swat off Lillee, sailed over the square leg fence.
Cairns hit 52 in 26 balls. It is among the most popular pieces of cricket footage.
Richard Webb's three-game New Zealand career began that day. Talk about being chucked in the deep end. The Otago new ball bowler took a tidy two for 47. Needless to say it was a bad day to be a New Zealand bowler.
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4: Jan 27, 1986, Adelaide
Result: New Zealand won by 206 runs
A crushing win in the heat of Adelaide Oval. NZ reached 276 for seven, with both Bruce Edgar and John Wright hitting 61.
By modern standards it would be regarded as a par total, that is, about what should be expected at the minimum. Back then, in the days of 220 vs 210 matches, it was substantial.
Still no one was prepared for what followed: Australia all out 70 in 26.3 overs. It remains the joint worst ODI total by Australia, equal with their effort against England at Birmingham in 1977.
Richard Hadlee three for 14; Ewen Chatfield two for 9 off seven overs; John Bracewell two for 3. It remains, in terms of batting first, New Zealand's biggest ODI win over Australia and the largest winning margin by runs over a major nation.
Aussie all out 70.
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5: Jan 3, 1988, Perth
Result: New Zealand won by one run
New Zealand have had four one-run ODI wins. Two of them are here, the other missed out by a whisker (see item 2).
The first match of the tri-series culminated on a hot night in a thrilling finale.
After Andrew Jones had anchored New Zealand's 232 for nine with 87, Dean Jones seemed poised to carry Australia home with his 92.
But after Hadlee put the skids under the innings midway through with two quick wickets, Dipak Patel took a sensational running catch in front of the sightscreen to remove Craig McDermott.
With two needed and three balls left, and last man Mike Whitney on strike, he hit out at Snedden and spooned the catch to a whooping, cavorting Bracewell at mid off.
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6: Dec 18, 1990, Hobart
Result: New Zealand won by one run
Two years after that came another cliffhanger, and a game which earmarked Chris Pringle, an otherwise unexceptional medium pacer, as the man for the death overs.
Australia needed just two to win off the final over, but with last man Bruce Reid on strike.
As No 11 batsmen go, the tall lefthander was a fine fast-medium bowler. And so he played and missed as Pringle kept his head. In desperation the batsmen attempted a run off the final ball and Reid was run out.
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7: Feb 22, 1992, Eden Park
Result: New Zealand won by 37 runs
The opening match of the World Cup, co-hosted by the Tasman rivals. Eden Park, a full house, so step up Martin Crowe, New Zealand's captain, who hit an outstanding 100 and, with Ken Rutherford's 57, pushed New Zealand to 248 for six.
As Pakistan's Inzamam-ul-Haq proved so dramatically in the semifinal a few weeks later, Eden Park is not the easiest ground to defend but New Zealand did a terrific job.
Crowe and coach Warren Lees devised a plan for offspinner Dipak Patel to open the bowling. It was unheard of, and caught the Aussies off guard. Opener Geoff Marsh's 19 took 56 balls as Patel wheeled through 10 overs, taking one for 36.
This was the start of the dibbly-dobbly era, with Gavin Larsen, Chris Harris and Rod Latham fiddling through their overs economically on low, slow pitches which suited their tidy, slow-medium bowling.
Harris' brilliant direct hit to run out stocky Tasmanian David Boon from the deep, as Boon reached his 100, was the turning point. The final four wickets fell for just 11 runs. It began an exhilarating month during which Crowe was probably the finest batsman on the planet.
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8: Jan 11, 2002, Melbourne
Result: New Zealand won by 23 runs
This might seem an odd choice. Sure a fine win over a formidable Australian outfit. New Zealand recovered from 94 for seven to reach 199 for eight, thanks to Harris, 63 not out, and Dan Vettori, 30, adding 72.
It should have been straightforward for the Aussies, but they fell apart, Chris Cairns taking three for 42 and a new fast bowler, Shane Bond, grabbing three for 53. All out 176 in 42 overs. So why is this one in here? Because it marked the start of Bond vs Australia.
At last New Zealand had a genuine quick who could put it up the Aussies.
By the time he finished with New Zealand cricket two years ago, Bond had played 67 ODIs, taking 125 wickets at 19.32. Fine enough figures, but then consider his record against the Aussies: 11 games, 34 wickets at 13.88.
Pick your best ever ODI team from all nations to play against Australia and those numbers would make Bond the No 1 bowling pick. There was something about the yellow outfit which dragged the best out of the Canterbury speedster. Putting it mildly, his absence over the last year has left a substantial hole.
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9: Jan 26, 2002, Adelaide
Result: New Zealand won by 77 runs
Fifteen days later, Bond followed that up with a crushing display as New Zealand rolled Australia for 165 in 45.2 overs. After Nathan Astle's 95 got New Zealand to 242 for five, Bond took over: 9.2-2-25-5. He top-and-tailed the Aussies, taking the first three wickets inside his first four overs, then wrapping it up at the end.
Australia's lineup included Gilchrist, Waugh x 2, Ponting, Martyn, Bevan, Symonds, Warne, McGrath and Gillespie, so they were no slouches. A thorough job done thoroughly well.
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10: Feb 20, 2007, Hamilton
Result: New Zealand won by one wicket
Actually, this is a three-in-one entry. Australia arrived for the Chappell-Hadlee series two years ago, minus captain Ricky Ponting; speed ace Brett Lee got injured before the opening game in Wellington.
Still, it was Australia, led by Michael Hussey.
First off, they were thumped by 10 wickets in Wellington; all out 148, Bond 9.3-2-23-5 - sound familiar? - and New Zealand made 149 for none in 27 overs, Lou Vincent 73 not out, Stephen Fleming unbeaten on 70.
Fast forward two days to Eden Park. Australia 336 for four, Hussey a splendid 105. Not enough. New Zealand got to 340 for five in 48.4 overs.
Ross Taylor's memorable 117 led the way, but Peter Fulton's 76 not out and Craig McMillan's feisty 52 in 30 balls got the hosts home in spectacular fashion.
But even that got topped at Hamilton.
Australia piled on 346 for five, opener Matthew Hayden clubbing 181 - 11 fours, 10 sixes - the highest individual ODI score by an Australian. Surely they couldn't be chased down again, especially once New Zealand slid to 41 for four.
They were. New Zealand reached 350 for nine, with three balls to spare. With apologies to Ireland, Zimbabwe and Canada, this is New Zealand's highest ODI total against an opponent of substance.
McMillan had his finest night in black, belting 117 in 96 balls, Fulton got an important 51 before Brendon McCullum, with a bit of help from Mark Gillespie at the end, got New Zealand over the line with 86 not out. Hayden won man of the match, one of those times when the recipient looked sick as a parrot.
It is New Zealand's only clean sweep of a series against Australia.
>>Video: Shane Bond takes five wickets in Wellington
