SYDNEY: New Zealand coach Mike Hesson declined to lay the boot into Australia on Thursday after a demoralising Test series defeat to South Africa, insisting their one-day team was a different beast.

Australia head into the three-game limited-overs Chappell-Hadlee Trophy, starting Sunday in Syd­ney, on the back of that 2-1 series loss to the Proteas while New Zealand arrive fresh from a 2-0 Test sweep against Pakistan.

“I think their one-day side is a heck of a lot more settled than their Test side,” said Hesson.

“The one-day side has been incredibly consistent, bar the recent South Africa [one-day 5-0 whitewash] series.

“They’ve been very good for a number of years and are ranked number one in the world, so I don’t think the unsettled nature of the Test side will lead into the one-day side.”

The New Zealanders could take the world No 1 ranking from the Aussies with a 3-0 series whitewash, but Hesson insisted that simply retaining the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy would be enough.

“We won the Chappell-Hadlee the last couple of times, it’s really important for us,” he said. “Aus­tralia are our big brothers and winning a bilateral series against them is important. If the by-product of that is an increase in the ranking, then great.”

Steve Smith’s Test side have been pilloried by fans and their own media after they lost their latest series 2-1 at home to South Africa.

That defeat came on the back of a 5-0 one-day series loss in South Africa and a 3-0 Test series defeat in Sri Lanka, leading to plenty of questions being asked about administrators, management and the players.

“It has been remarkably consistent barring the South African series,” Hesson said. “They have been very good for a number of years and are currently number one in the world.

“I don’t think the unsettled nature of the Test side will carry over to the one-day side.”

The timing of the one-dayers, which includes matches in Canberra on Dec 6 and ends in Melbourne on Dec 9, has been questioned by some Australian pundits, with it falling between Test series against the Proteas and Pakistan.

Smith also told reporters in Sydney on Wed­nesday it was not ‘ideal’ but his team would just need to adapt, something Hesson agreed with.

“Both teams have been aware about that calendar for the last 18 months so I don’t think it has snuck up on anybody,” Hesson said.

Published in Dawn, December 2nd, 2016