Australia vs New Zealand: Kiwis start as the favourites, says Damien Fleming

By Chetan Narula

Former Australian bowler Damien Fleming shares his thoughts on the big New Zealand-Australia match. Excerpts:

Big match. What do you think of this clash of the two co-hosts?

Australia are actually playing in foreign conditions and New Zealand are a very strong team. It's hard to pick a weakness there. I think for Australia, this will be a good test. Not to forget Michael Clarke is coming back, and he hasn't played since the Adelaide Test against India, and this is not an easy game coming in from injury.

Is it about whose batting order does better on the day?

Both teams have batting orders that are equally matched but Australia bat deep. It is the swing bowlers in home conditions and could worry the Australians. Tim Southee and Trent Boult absolutely destroyed England, they swung the ball, pitched it up, induced drives and edges, they will be very dangerous.

How big is the Clarke factor?

I think he will want to get off the mark quickly and get going. He is very experienced and knows his game very well, so you hope that he can get some runs early on and take the run-rate up. It will be an interesting challenge because if Australia want to win the World Cup, they have to beat New Zealand, not only now, but maybe later as well. They (the Kiwis) play a lot of their matches at home, like Australia, and should go deep in the tournament. So getting a win away from home will galvanise this Australian team going ahead.

The Kiwis have won three while the Aussies haven't played much. How does that compare? Is this match going to decide who the tournament favourite is?

It is very hard to pick a favourite at the moment. New Zealand too haven't played for a week since beating England, so it shouldn't be a factor for either side. I think both these teams will go deep inthe tournament, atleast the semi-finals, and India as well as South Africa will be there too. But as far as Saturday is concerned, New Zealand definitely start as the favourites.