Ricky Ponting's Australia will search for revenge on Sunday at the Sinhalese Sports Club, determined to regain their traditional superiority over archrivals New Zealand.

Stephen Fleming's side squeezed Australia out of the last summer's VB Series for only the third time since the tournament's inception, an unexpected failure that cost Steve Waugh the one-day captaincy.

The Black Caps secret was a combination of accurate bowling and meticulous planning. Australia were caught on the hop, with Ponting, Steve and Mark Waugh and Damien Martyn all averaging less than 16.

But Aussie coach John Buchanan is confident that they will not be outmanoeuvred again: "New Zealand played to a good game plan but I think we will be able to handle it a lot better this time."

And Ponting has been encouraged by his side's blistering early season form at Nairobi, where they brushed aside both Kenya and Pakistan with ease.

"We hope to maintain that kind of form here," the skipper said, "We have played very well in the past few months and the players are responding well."

Fleming too admits that Australia will have learnt from their mistakes: "Any areas that Australia felt we exposed during the that series will have been remedies pretty quickly.

"If we go into the game taking satisfaction in having competed well in Australia we are going to get beaten. The challenge for us is to expose other areas and with Australia that's not easy."

But Fleming is comfortable with the knockout format: "The beauty is that it's a one-off game and in a two-horse race you've got to fancy your chances."

"Whoever plays the game under the most pressure will lose," he predicted.

New Zealand will be playing without the services of two key all-rounders: Craig McMillan who refused to tour for security reasons and Chris Cairns who is yet to recover from a serious knee injury.

But Fleming does have the exciting fast bowler Shane Bond at his disposal, as well a handful of medium pacers and spinners well suited to the slow-paced pitches found in Sri Lanka.

New Zealand also benefited from two practice matches in Sri Lanka during the past week, losing by six wickets to South Africa and then defeating Zimbabwe by eight runs on Friday.

New Zealand's only doubt is seamer Paul Hitchcock, who picked up an injury to his right elbow during a practice match against South Africa on Wednesday.

Australia won their solitary warm-up game easily, defeating West Indies by six wickets

Darren Lehmann, 32, is set to return to the side after breaking his little finger whilst playing for Yorkshire during the English summer. He is expected to play ahead of Jimmy Maher, who played in the Nairobi final.

In the bowling department Australia may consider including off-spinner Nathan Hauritz with the Sinhalese Sport Club surface expected to offer some assistance to the spinners. But Australia's wealth in the fast bowling department is such that this could weaken the attack. Instead, Ponting can use Michael Bevan's slow left-arm spin as variation.

Fast bowlers Glenn McGrath and Brett Lee have both been ill since the side arrived in Colombo but are expected to play.

Australia:

Adam Gilchrist (wk), Matthew Hayden, Jimmy Maher, Ricky Ponting (capt), Michael Bevan, Darren Lehmann, Damien Martyn, Shane Watson, Shane Warne, Nathan Hauritz, Andy Bichel, Brett Lee, Jason Gillespie, Glenn McGrath.

New Zealand:

Nathan Astle, Chris Nevin (wk), Lou Vincent, Stephen Fleming (capt), Mathew Sinclair, Chris Harris, Scott Styris, Kyle Mills, Jacob Oram, Daniel Vettori, Glenn Sulzberger, Daryl Tuffey, Shane Bond, Paul Hitchcock.

© 2002 CricInfo Ltd