Calcutta: Australia were only beaten by a whisker in Auckland, but the post-mortem continues on the stunning batting collapse against New Zealand that left them playing catch-up.

Mitchell Johnson, one of the senior players, believes it may just have been the occasion that got to the Australians. "I think we trained really well, to be honest," Johnson was quoted as saying by the Sydney Morning Herald.

"I just think we were probably a little bit nervous through that middle period. We trained and we knew what to expect. We knew the ball was going to swing there. We knew what to expect - we just didn't play our game when we got out there in the middle.

"I think the moment probably got a bit big for us."

Johnson says Australia would be ready for the Black Caps, who rely heavily on their captain Brendon McCullum for runs, if they ran into them again at the business end of the World Cup.

If they do, he'll be hoping McCullum can be stopped earlier than he was at Eden Park, where even a painful blow to his arm from a Johnson delivery did not stop the latter from dealing ruthlessly with the Australian spearhead.

"Brendon's a great player," Johnson said. "He took me apart... I haven't been belted like that for a long while.

"But I'm confident we'll give it back to him."

The Johnson-McCullum duel is also expected to be renewed if they meet again in the Cup after a snorter from the Australian had given the New Zealander a swollen arm.

The blow occurred in the third over of the New Zealand innings when Johnson went into short-pitched mode and McCullum could not get out of the way of the delivery.

Images showed extensive swelling on his forearm, but below the elbow, which could have been a far nastier area to be struck.

That Johnson enjoys tremendous respect within the team was evident when Mitchell Starc, who almost won Australia the match against their Trans-Tasman neighbours, had said after the match that the former remains their spearhead.

Starc's six-wicket haul against New Zealand at Eden Park was nothing short of extraordinary, particularly compared to the uncharacteristically poor day had by Johnson, who was carted for 68 runs off just six overs.

"Mitch (Johnson) is definitely the leader and I went to him for those last two balls as well because he's been a great leader for a long time and he's been in outstanding form for nearly two years now," Starc had said.