Calcutta: Australia are seeking to downplay the importance of Brendon McCullum in the clash of the co-hosts on Saturday at Eden Park in Auckland, with fast bowling coach Craig McDermott saying they had four players as good as him, leaving New Zealand with "four times the headache".

New Zealand captain McCullum is the cynosure in Auckland now, ahead of the sold-out Group A match, with his record 50 in his side's run chase against England last week still fresh in the minds of a nation bursting with belief.

But McDermott, who played in the match between the trans-Tasman rivals in Auckland during the 1992 World Cup, insisted that his bowlers now are not losing sleep over how to contain the 33-year-old.

"I can think of four players who play for us who are equally good, so may be they've got four times the headaches," McDermott told Sydney Morning Herald.

"And there are 10 other guys in that team besides Brendon McCullum, so we've got to deal with the whole team, not just him."

The lengthy lead-in to the match and the attention it is receiving in New Zealand has led to sub-plots that ordinarily would not be explored before a single 50-over contest. Who deserve to be favourites has been a recurring question to players and coaches.

McDermott, a straight talker, was asked not only about McCullum but the dangers posed by top-10 ranked Test bowlers Trent Boult and Tim Southee.

"I don't know... facing our blokes at practice is difficult enough, so I think our blokes are going to be pretty well prepared," he said.

"We've got Mitchell (Starc) and Josh (Hazlewood) who have been swinging the ball consistently and they are 10kph faster. So our blokes are well prepared for that sort of stuff, and our blokes move their feet pretty well."

There was concern of a different kind on Thursday about Southee when he took a nasty blow to the right shoulder at the Kiwis' training session at Eden Park.

Australia's James Faulkner, who bowled off a full length at training and is "flying", according to Hazlewood, in his recovery from a side strain, but Saturday's game will probably come a touch too early for him.

The match is, in contrast, a week later than Michael Clarke hoped to play, but his preparations continued according to plan, completing running and fielding drills after long stints in the nets and in centre-wicket practice earlier in the week.

It is expected the Australian captain will come into the side for George Bailey who, despite his pending omission, continues to offer reminders of his attributes by threatening the infrastructure at Eden Park No.2 - he broke a window with a lofted strike on Monday and just about cleaned up a spotlight on Thursday.