McCullum, New Zealand’s master and commander. (Source: Reuters photo)

Four days can feel like a long time in sport. Fruit flies, Australian pests, sledging, brain explosion, weird angles of Eden Park are some of the stuff discussed in the last four days since Australia arrived in Auckland. The newspapers have discussed everything threadbare. Man to man comparisons, the ground-zone charts portraying where each New Zealand batsman has hit sixes in their career, wishes from former players . you name it, they have done it.

Four years can feel like a lifetime in sport. Australia and New Zealand haven’t played each other since the 2011 World Cup. It boggles the mind and New Zealanders see it as a slight. “We have been poor cousins to Australia for a while and the current team has to prove worthy of competing,” Stephen Fleming says. “This game is going to present a great opportunity to do that. Both countries recognise the emergence of this New Zealand team and I think if we keep competing there will be more contact in the future.”

Four minutes can feel claustrophobic at times. Or at least that’s what David Warner is hoping. The first trans-Tasman sledge ahead of this contest, in the last week, was fired by Warner at how Brendon McCullum can have a brain explosion.

Four seconds can be enough to taunt a player. The first question fired at Shane Watson at his first press meet in this country earlier this week was about his struggle for runs.

“Um, gee, that’s a hard-hitting question to start with,” responded Watson.

“It’s like India-Pakistan game at a smaller scale,” says Fleming. He is quick to stress though that this is just a league game. “This game is just about finding out where each team lies. If one team plays well and dominates it then sends a very strong message, and for the other team it would be going back to the drawing board.” Like Fleming, Martin Crowe, the man who dragged New Zealand to a semi-final in 1992, too insists on seeing it as a “round-robin game” but hopes it would be a close-fought affair as “this World Cup needs a good close game” (between full-member sides).

It’s been an edgy build-up to Saturday’s high-profile clash between Australia and New Zealand. It doesn’t quite have the manic madness of India but the buzz can be felt. A quiet feeling of confidence seems to be spreading around Auckland, and the rest of the country. You get the feeling that the New Zealand public think they can win the match.

It’s not clear how much respect Fleming and Ricky Ponting had for each other or Crowe and Allan Border had, but Michael Clarke and McCullum seem to have a mutual respect. Asked about how Clarke’s inclusion has led to a debate over leadership in Australia as he hasn’t captained since November, McCullum was quick to come to his aid. “I think Michael Clarke is the leader of the Australian team. I think we saw during the tragic circumstances around Phil Hughes’ passing how strong a leader he is and the way he carried himself and the way he spoke on behalf of the team. I think that earned adulation and respect from not just Australian people, but also people around the world. We were certainly in awe of how he was able to handle himself during that time. I think he’s very much the leader of that team. We are very respectful of that and I think they are strengthened for his inclusion back in the side.”

Similar sentiments came from Clarke as well on Friday. “I know Brendon pretty well, though, and I think he has certainly that attacking, positive style, as you see in his own performance but I think you see that in his captaincy style as well.”

But even as one can be lulled into thinking that it’s all hunky-dory, Ponting, former Australia captain, has fired the latest salvo. “For all the talk about New Zealand lifting when they play Australia, they very seldom manage to emerge as winners,” Ponting wrote in his column. “The 2007 Chappell-Hadlee Trophy in New Zealand and the second Test in Hobart in 2011 stand out as New Zealand’s only significant victories over Australia in the past decade.”

It might seem harsh but it’s not an incorrect statement. However, New Zealand seem quietly confident this time, and considering the fact that this game doesn’t have the pressure of a knock-out, and Clarke is coming back after a while, it won’t be a surprise if the hosts manage to pull off a win.