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The New Zealand one-day cricket team arrived in Australia on Tuesday aiming to add to Ricky Ponting’s considerable woes.
With Ponting’s side reeling from Test and one-day series losses to South Africa and battling to retain their No.1 rankings, the Black Caps feel it could be the ideal time to take on the world champions.
New Zealand have arrived fresh from a 2-1 victory in a rain-interrupted five-match one-day series at home against the West Indies.
They now take on Australia in another five-match series starting in Perth on Sunday and didn’t mince words about their stated aim upon touching down in Sydney.
“We’re definitely here to win. We’re not here for a haircut,” batsman Brendon McCullum said.
“We’re here to win. We’ve been looking forward to a series like this for a long time.
“The West Indies series was hard to get into, it was stop-start and no real momentum, but this one the guys have had a keen eye on for a while and if we play to our potential we have a big chance.”
New Zealand’s only warm-up match ahead of the first one-dayer will be against a Prime Minister’s XI at Canberra’s Manuka Oval on Thursday led by former Test cricketer Justin Langer.
Test hopeful Phil Hughes and in-form South Australian duo Michael Klinger and Callum Ferguson will also take on the Kiwis in Canberra.
New Zealand have brought an extremely inexperienced squad to Australia, but believe it has potential to cause the hosts plenty of problems.
The likes of young opening batsman Martin Guptill, the first Kiwi to score a one-day ton on debut when he smashed 122 not out against the Windies just over two weeks ago, could give the tourists a timely boost.
“It can be a great thing inexperience, you’ve never come up against Australia before so you may not have the scars of previous tours,” captain Daniel Vettori said.
“So if a guy like Martin Guptill or Jesse Ryder or Neil Broom scores a hundred in the first one-dayer, they’re going to be full of confidence and it’ll permeate through the team.”
Following the first one-dayer at the WACA, the series will head to Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide before concluding in Brisbane.
The sides will also contest a Twenty20 match at the SCG on February 15.
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