australia entered the final as strong favourites to win. australia had a strong record at home, winning 24 of their last 26 games and former australian cricketer matthew hayden suggested new zealand would struggle with the larger field size at the melbourne cricket ground (mcg), especially after playing all their tournament games on the smaller new zealand grounds. additionally, australia had a much stronger record at the world cup, having already won it four times. at the mcg australia had won their last six matches, although they did lose the last time they played new zealand there in 2009. former australia captain ricky ponting stated that australia were overwhelming favourites and one could not find a weakness in the australian team.