By Erin Bishop

What is it about New Zealand versus Australia that really gets the juices flowing?

They're our closest neighbours, but they're certainly not our closest friends on the sporting pitch.

It doesn't even seem to matter what sport it is. You just need to look at the past week on the cricket field and the football pitch.

Football's A-League semi-final between the Wellington Phoenix and the Newcastle Jets, for example, attracted an incredible crowd to Westpac Stadium and saw new recruits to the game (me included) glued to their televisions at home.

With some Aussies showing wonderful Anzac spirit in saying a New Zealand team shouldn't be in their competition, the spectacular Phoenix win was made all the better. Two games to go now until those people can eat their hats. The Phoenix should be there.

As a nation we're competitive. We like winning.

Problem is, so do they.

We sit at home and grow increasingly frustrated at the Australian cricket commentators' one-sided views on games, but have we ever tried listening to the New Zealand commentators from an Australian's point of view?

Are ours like that too? Are Australians saying the exact same thing as us?

Do ours describe every catch Brendon McCullum takes behind the stumps as "brilliant" and "one of the best catches you'll see", like every catch of Brad Haddin's seems to be, by some of his home commentators more than others?

It sounds harsh, but I don't like Haddin or Shane Watson, or even Ricky Ponting. But why is that? I have never met them in my life and for all I know they could be lovely, friendly, easy going individuals.

I don't like Mitchell Johnson after the mid-pitch altercation he had with Scott Styris the other night.

But really, it's all just part of sport isn't it?

We don't have such strong feelings about the English, South African or Indian teams, so what's special about Australia that just rubs people up the wrong way and gets the juices flowing?

The past few days have been pretty good from a New Zealand point of view.

We won the football and with two more wins we could take out the A-League.

We beat Australia in one of the most incredible Twenty20 cricket matches we'll probably ever see, and then handed them their first one day defeat in 13 games and went agonisingly close in game two.

Just like the Phoenix's last two football matches, this Australian cricket tour is attracting new people to the game.

And that can only be good.