Three quick-fire thoughts on the best match-ups to watch during Saturday's New Zealand v Australia blockbuster.
1. The battle between New Zealand's new-ball bowlers and Australia's openers could go a long way to determining victory. While this has been a World Cup where it has been generally been better to set targets than chase, there is something undeniably tantalising about the prospect of Australia batting first and Tim Southee and Trent Boult going head to head with David Warner and the in-form Aaron Finch.
2. Flip point one on its axis and a close second in key match-ups will be how Australia's new-ball bowlers, probably Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood, attack Brendon McCullum. The noises suggest they think McCullum will find it more difficult to obliterate attacks that operate at more than 145kp/h, but dealing with pace has never been McCullum's issue... just ask Shaun Tait.
3. Okay, so they're not going to go head to head exactly, but Luke Ronchi v Brad Haddin is an intriguing contest. Try to put a neutral hat on and pretend you're the selector of a composite World XI and were offered the choice of Ronchi or Haddin as your keeper-batsman. Who would you choose? I think most neutrals would go for Ronchi on form - not bad for a bloke who had to leave the sunburnt country to get a game.
