Kiwis unfazed by sledges or speed

As can be the prescribed remedy to many a feud within extended families, New Zealand’s cricketers have vowed not to react to the taunts from their bigger, brasher fraternal foes lest any provocation prove counter-productive.

While the Australians are expecting an avalanche of ‘banter’ to rain down from the steepling stands and overflowing terraces at Auckland’s spiritual home of rugby, Eden Park, on Saturday, they seem likely to be met with little more than icy stares or playful smiles from their on-field opponents.

That’s because under coach Mike Hesson, the Black Caps have taken modern cricket’s version of a vow of silence by eschewing the practice of sledging opponents and focusing instead on ensuring their cricket skills do their talking.

This era of enlightenment began when Hesson took over in 2012 following a stint as coach of Kenya, and was in part triggered by an ugly on-field spat during the 2011 World Cup in India when several players were fined for their part in the verbal melee that marred NZ’s quarter-final win over South Africa.

Even though the current Black Caps line-up is bristling with highly combative players, none more so than skipper Brendon McCullum and star swing bowler Tim Southee, Hesson maintains that no amount of baiting from their trans-Tasman rivals will see his players abandon their principles.

“We deal with plenty of sides that provide that (on-field sledging) and we just tend to go about our work,” Hesson said today ahead of Saturday’s match that is likely to decide which nation finishes the group stage of the World Cup on top of Pool A.

“We don't get too caught up in that sort of stuff.

“We're pretty respectful of our opposition and we're competitive, but we pretty much focus on our own job.

“We don't have a rule (against sledging), but as I said we're just respectful of our opposition.

“We basically focus on what we're trying to do rather than anything else.”

Not that the benign indifference from Australia’s tournament co-hosts will mean the match will be fought out in monastic silence.

The four-times World Cup champions were given a taste of the reception they can expect from fans in Auckland during today’s practice session on the training ground behind Eden Park when the occupant of a car travelling along the adjacent Sandringham Road screamed “f… off Aussies”.

The reduced boundaries at the curiously configured rugby ground ensure there’s little room that separates the players from the crowd and it’s that interaction that is likely to more than make up for the mute response from the New Zealand players.

“It’s not your standard cricket ground,” Australia allrounder Shane Watson, one of only four members of the current World Cup squad to have played an international match at the venue previously, said today.

“And the crowd definitely feels right on top of you as well, with a lot of New Zealanders not really enjoying our company out there.

“It’s an interesting place to play cricket.

“I know it’s going to very hostile, the times we’ve played over here before we know that we’re not really the favourites when we go out onto the ground, but that’s the exciting thing about going to play in New Zealand.

“We know we’re not very welcome and the New Zealand players but also the fans will be doing everything they can to make sure we don’t win so that’s what we’re all looking forward to.

“It means we’ll have no excuses to be able to get up for this game.”

If his team steadfastly refuses to engage in on-field gamesmanship, then Hesson was pulling out all stops to ensure that approach extended to the off-field pre-match build-up as well.

During a 10 minute media conference at the conclusion of the Black Caps’ two-hour training session conducted in bright North Island sunshine this morning, Hesson – despite his diminutive stature – effectively smothered the spin of every delivery lobbed at him.

He repeatedly offered no view on whether it was New Zealand or Australia who would enter Saturday’s match as favourites.

“Our guys can read and they read the paper sometimes – some of them more than others – but we’re a pretty grounded group,” Hesson flat-batted.

He countered his own assertion that the Black Caps’ knowledge of Eden Park’s idiosyncrasies would prove beneficial with an acknowledgement that hasn’t always proved the case given they have lost more ODIs than they’ve won in Auckland over the past 40 years.

“We certainly modify our plans when we play here and sometimes we’ve done it better than others,” he said of the ground where no Australia ODI team has played since 2010.

“But it certainly has different dimensions and the pitch plays differently throughout the day, and we’ve got a little bit of experience with that.”

And while confirming that Luke Ronchi, the ex-Australia wicketkeeper-batsman who returned to the country of his birth to further his international aspirations with New Zealand, had provided some useful intelligence on his former teammates, he would not reveal any details as to its substance.

But Hesson was happy to dismiss suggestions that Australia’s quartet of fast bowlers – Mitchell Johnson, Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood – could provide an entirely new test for a Black Caps batting line-up that has not been subjected to extreme pace in the World Cup thus far.

“They bowl 150 (kph), there’s plenty of guys that bowl 150,” Hesson said.

"We face (NZ quick) Adam Milne every day – he bowls 150 and we cope with that OK.

“Every side we play has got some different challenges and Australia have obviously got some guys that bowl some good gas, as do we, so it should be a good challenge.”

Australia’s immediate challenge is establishing which of its 15 players fit most appropriately into the 11-man starting line-up for Saturday.

While the return of captain Michael Clarke for George Bailey now seems a given, the make-up of the fast-bowling attack remains up for debate especially given that left-arm spinner Xavier Doherty was included in the squad especially with this fixture on a traditionally slow pitch in mind.

Doherty and off-spinner Glenn Maxwell bowled extended spells during centre-wicket training yesterday although a decision on whether spin is the preferred option won’t be made until more is known about the Eden Park playing surface.

Further compounding the selectors’ dilemma is the fitness of allrounder James Faulkner, who bowled half a dozen overs off his full run-up in the nets this afternoon and according to Watson is “getting very close” to being available.

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And while Watson knows the impending return of a fellow allrounder who is also the Australia team’s gun ‘finisher’ with the bat can only heighten the scrutiny on his own returns with bat and ball, it is the intractable dimensions of Eden Park that are likely to catch his and his teammates’ immediate attention tomorrow.

When they hope to make their first appearance on the hallowed rugby turf for the first time since arriving in Auckland on Sunday, to complete a full session of fielding drills.

“It’s different dimensions for a cricket ground,” Watson mused.

“I remember last time there was a couple of really small pockets, very short pockets, but also a couple of big pockets as well.

“We’re going to have to spend a bit of time out there fielding-wise and just getting our head around the different dimensions, where our scoring zones might change and fielding-wise and bowling-wise different plans to be able to defend the bigger sides more than anything.

“We certainly have to take that into consideration.”