New Zealand wary of Australia despite five-day problems
Thursday 1 December 2016 08:41, UK
New Zealand coach Mike Hesson insists Australia's one-day team remains one to be feared despite the crisis engulfing their Test side.
Australia head into the three-game limited-overs Chappell-Hadlee Trophy, starting Sunday in Sydney, on the back of that 2-1 series loss to South Africa, while New Zealand arrive fresh from a 2-0 Test sweep against Pakistan.
"I think their one-day side is a heck of a lot more settled than their Test side," said Hesson.
"The one-day side has been incredibly consistent, bar the recent South Africa [one-day 5-0 whitewash] series.
"They've been very good for a number of years and are ranked number one in the world, so I don't think the unsettled nature of the Test side will lead into the one-day side."
The New Zealanders could take the world number one ranking from the Aussies with a 3-0 series whitewash, but Hesson insisted that simply retaining the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy would be enough.
"We won the Chappell-Hadlee the last couple of times, it's really important for us," he said.
"Australia are our big brothers and winning a bilateral series against them is important. If the by-product of that is an increase in the ranking, then great."
The first match is in Sydney on December 4, followed by Canberra on December 6 and Melbourne on December 9.
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