Trans-Tasman rivals New Zealand and Australia clash in a heavyweight World Cup showdown in Auckland on Saturday while, 5,500km away in Perth, defending champions India face the amateurs of the UAE.
In front of 40,000 people at Eden Park, New Zealand can virtually make sure of a quarter-final place with a fourth win in four games.
But four-time champions Australia, who beat England in their opener two weeks ago before seeing the clash with Bangladesh rained off in Brisbane, can take heart from a solid record in the New Zealand city.
They have 11 wins out of 16 at Eden Park, including four of the last five.
The Australians were buoyed by the return of skipper Michael Clarke who missed the first game as a consequence of his long-standing hamstring problems.
Clarke replaced stand-in skipper George Bailey while Pat Cummins dislodged fellow seamer Josh Hazlewood.
New Zealand kept the same team which has served them so well but it was Australia who struck the first blow when Clarke won the toss and chose to bat under clear blue skies in Auckland.
The build-up was dominated by suggestions that the meeting will be over-shadowed by a verbal contest while the peculiar dimensions of Eden Park, with his its short boundaries, are expected to encourage a run glut.
"I'm not a big believer in it (sledging)," said Clarke who was widely criticised for his threat to England's James Anderson 'to get ready for a broken arm' in the last Ashes series.
"It comes down to the individual player. If it helps them, then go for it."
In captain Brendon McCullum, New Zealand have an explosive batsman at the top of the order who can change the game as he proved during his whirlwind 25-ball 77 against England in Wellington.
"He does hit them a long way, doesn't he?" said Australia coach Darren Lehmann said.
- High-risk game -
"He plays a high-risk game, but there's a bit of a difference between 135km/h and 150km/h coming at him."
New Zealand coach Mike Hesson tried to downplay the importance of Saturday's match by saying: "It's just another one of the round robin games and obviously it's going to be a good one."
At the WACA in Perth, two worlds collide when mighty India tackle the United Arab Emirates' team of shipping clerks and airline staff, with at least two of the Gulf amateurs relishing the showdown.
All-rounder Krishna Chandran and wicket-keeper Swapnil Patil were both born in India.
But frustrated by the pedestrian pace of their playing careers in the country's over-crowded talent market, they decamped to the UAE to pursue jobs and cricket.
Chandran hails from Kerala and once featured for a Bangalore college club alongside Stuart Binny, who is a member of the India squad at the World Cup.
"It's going to be a big moment for people back home," 30-year-old Chandran, who moved to the Gulf in 2010, told wisdenindia.com.
"For people who saw me playing in my shorts, with a tennis ball, on the streets of my home village of Kollengode, it's going to be a big thing to watch me on TV, playing against India, in a World Cup match, at a ground like the WACA."
Patil is another Indian expat and is looking forward to meeting up with star batsman Ajinkya Rahane after the pair played in a variety of youth teams in Mumbai before the keeper moved to Dubai.
India have been in rampant form so far, beating Pakistan by 76 runs and then trouncing South Africa by 130 runs in games where they racked up two 300-plus totals.
The UAE have lost both their games, to Zimbabwe and Ireland, but only by four and two wickets.
India's in-form seamer Mohammad Shami, who took four for 35 against Pakistan and two for 30 against South Africa, will miss the game with a knee injury.
Source: AFP
