The Aussies versus the Black Caps in a game where it’s all on the line in cricket’s showcase tournament.

These days the international cricket calendar is flooded with what seems to be meaningless one-day games all over the world.

Last year the Aussies played 18 one-day matches, but can you remember who they played a three-match series against in October?

Or who were the two other nations they were involved in a mini tournament with last August and September?

The answer is Pakistan in October and South Africa and Zimbabwe in August-September.

Last year there were 120 one-day internationals played across the world in every month, except April.

With most of those matches having little riding on them - save for some ICC ranking points - it can be easy to become immune to the one-day product and treat it as just another game of cricket.

After all, when you average it out, there was one ODI played every third day last year.

But the past six weeks have put the 50-over game back on the map with the World Cup that will reach its crescendo on Sunday when a packed MCG hosts the final between Australia and New Zealand.

Yes, the first month may have laboured a bit when the bulk of the games seemed to feature either minnows playing fellow minnows, or minnows getting belted by established nations - with the exception of England.

But the past week-and-a-bit of knockout games have proven that the one-day game still has plenty to offer when there’s a genuine prize on the line - and there’s no bigger prize than to be crowned world champions.

It was clear to see just how much the World Cup means as South Africa’s AB de Villiers trudged off Eden Park last Tuesday night with tears in his eyes after New Zealand’s thrilling semi-final win with one ball to spare thanks to a Grant Elliott six, which was straight out of the playbook of Strathdale’s Jake DeAraugo in the BDCA grand final two days earlier.

When it comes to World Cups, the luckless Proteas appear to be suffering from cricket’s version of the “Curse of the Bambino” that was blamed for the Boston Red Sox going 86 years without winning a Major League baseball title.

Four nights earlier the Australia-Pakistan quarter-final at the Adelaide Oval was compulsive viewing for the simple fact that it was all on the line for both teams.

None of this best-of-three mickey-mouse one-day series that we’ve become accustomed to over the years - it was do or die, no tomorrow for the loser.

Not to mention it was absorbing cricket to watch when Pakistan’s Wahab Riaz channelled his country’s greats of the past in Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis with a fiery spell to Shane Watson, who defiantly weathered the storm with an unbeaten 64.

And now it all comes down to one game - 100 overs, 600 balls and the opportunity for either Australia or New Zealand to win the most sought-after trophy in international one-day cricket.

The appeal of one-day cricket may not be what it once was in the days when MCG ODI’s were the hottest ticket in Melbourne during summer, but put the World Cup trophy up grabs and Sunday promises to be one hell of a spectacle. 

C’mon Aussie, C’mon.