Vettori heartened by brave McCullum

Brendon McCullum arrived unexpectedly at number nine to try and seal a Black Caps victory in Sydney

The never-say-die attitude exhibited by Brendon McCullum in Sunday's one-day loss to Australia has given New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori confidence that he will shrug off a shoulder injury to play in Adelaide on Tuesday.

McCullum was in obvious pain when struck on the right shoulder by a ball that unexpectedly lifted off a length from seamer Kyle Mills early in Australia's innings on an otherwise placid SCG wicket.

The influential wicketkeeper-batsman was given extended treatment throughout the innings, and remained behind the stumps for the full 50 overs as Australia racked up 301 for nine in their 50 overs.

McCullum's hard-hitting style was seen as a vital ingredient if New Zealand were to chase down the total and seal the Chappell-Hadlee series but he was nowhere to be seen as Martin Guptill and usual number three Peter Fulton strode out to open the innings.

New Zealand fell behind the run-rate and only McCullum's dogged determination to help his side - aided by a pain-killing injection - saw him come in at number nine with the score 183 for seven.

McCullum compiled a free-swinging 36 from 27 balls as he and centurion Grant Elliot put on 69 for the eighth wicket to make the Australians sweat before the tourists eventually fell 32 runs short.

The Kiwi gloveman will undergo a scan in Adelaide on Monday ahead of the fourth ODI the following day but Vettori is confident he will be cleared to play a full part.

"He wasn't going to bat then he wasn't going to keep and he kept doing everything," the Black Caps skipper said.

"To get through what he did today, he must be all right. Early on he wasn't going to bat then he appeared with his pads on so to be able to hit the ball as cleanly as he did, he's probably not too bad."

Reserve wicketkeeper Gareth Hopkins arrived in Adelaide and would slip into the middle order if McCullum is ruled out.

While McCullum's loss would be a bitter blow to his side, Vettori is more concerned about an improvement from his bowling unit after a sub-par effort in Sydney.

"I think we set a really high standard in the first two games and if we'd bowled somewhere near our capabilities then we would have restricted them to maybe 270 and that would've been a good total," he added.

"There was not the discipline and execution we showed in those first two games and that's why Australia got away on us.

"We know we're in a good space, we know we're playing some good cricket and the only way we win against Australia is if we put all three components together and unfortunately we didn't do all three."