The Phoney War is over, the transtasman battle is on again

New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming has been around long enough to be wary of Australians bearing gifts.

The extraordinarily complimentary remarks from leg-spinning legend Shane Warne about Fleming's qualities as the best captain in world cricket this week, in earlier times might have had the potential to turn a young captain's head.

But Fleming has been involved in playing the Australians long enough to know that while the comments from such an unlikely quarter are an affirmation of the results he has achieved, there is also likely to be a fish hook in there somewhere for unwary players.

It shouldn't be forgotten that about the same time last year Warne was claiming New Zealanders were the worst sledgers of all with now-retired wicket-keeper Adam Parore the worst chirper of them all.

That rebounded on Australia a little last summer when New Zealand proved highly-competitive in a thrilling Test series played out in their own backyard, with Parore scoring the second Test century of his career, and New Zealand carrying on to dump Australia out of their own one-day series.

Perhaps Warne has decided on the complimentary warfare rather than the sniping kind?

It should also not be forgotten that Australia's absence from the one-dayers was partly due to the New Zealanders playing the laws of the tri-series bonus points system to the letter and squeezing the life out of the Australians.

The Aussies won't have forgotten that which all points to a highly competitive match in the ICC Champions' Trophy being played in Colombo, Sri Lanka tomorrow.

It is a vital match, the winner taking all and going on to the semi-finals. New Zealand would dearly love that as they are the defending champions of the tournament.

Australia, on the other hand have been knocked out in their first game on the two previous occasions, and they don't like going too long without their names on world championship trophies. Never have done.

The two teams have notable changes from last summer. Chris Cairns, Andre Adams, Craig McMillan and Parore are the most obvious absentees from the New Zealand line-up, and three of them had been integral parts of the one-day apparatus while Adams was a player on the rise.

Australia, of course, are without the Waugh twins, Steve and Mark, probably the most notable victims of New Zealand's tactics in Australia last summer.

While Cairns' absence especially could be seen as crucial to New Zealand's hopes, it is also a case of being used to it. He wasn't available for series in Sharjah, Pakistan and the West Indies, and there are no guarantees about how much longer he will be available.

It is time for the players in New Zealand's future to stand up and that is what will determine the side's fate in this tournament and clarify its hopes for the World Cup in South Africa next year.

Players like Mathew Sinclair, Lou Vincent, Scott Styris and Jacob Oram all have the potential for lengthy associations with the national side but it is up to them to seize this opportunity.

It is disappointing that Vincent's main roles in the side of batting and brilliant fielding may be compromised by the desire to have him take the wicket-keeping gloves. The one saving grace is that such is the level of fielding ability in the side that reasonable substitutes are available.

But at the same time it has to be acknowledged that Vincent, in the field, is capable of the game-breaking manoeuvre and that asset would be lost while he wears the gloves.

Australia, as ever, have the aura of invincibility about them and they showed their readiness in Kenya.

Ricky Ponting is growing as a leader and has assured batting class Adam Gilchrist, Michael Bevan, Matthew Hayden and Damien Martyn to back him up while there is no arguing with the bowling skills of Jason Gillespie, Glenn McGrath, Brett Lee and Warne.

As always the match shapes as another transtasman classic, albeit played out on foreign fields.

There couldn't be a better way to start the summer.