New Zealand cricket chief executive Martin Snedden Monday promised Australian players would not come under fire from a hostile crowd in the second of one-day international. The assurance to Australian manager Steve Bernard ahead of the clash between the world's two top-ranked teams on Tuesday follows what Snedden described as unacceptable crowd behaviour in the first match in Wellington on Saturday.

Australian players were angry after Saturday's match, with Matthew Hayden claiming he was spat at, Simon Katich hit by plastic bottles and Glenn McGrath abused by a security guard.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2005