Kiwi points finger at Ponting

New Zealand skipper Daniel Vettori has sparked a tense Trans-Tasman showdown by naming Ricky Ponting, Andrew Symonds and Matthew Hayden as cricket's most aggressive nigglers.

And Vettori ruffled more feathers when he claimed his opposite number Ponting was often "spoiling for a fight".

He also insisted he was not surprised last summer's series between Australia and India had descended into a bitter slanging match.

"If a team was going to play the game hard and stand up to everything the Aussies hurled at them, there was going to be trouble," Vettori writes in his new book, Turning Point.

"I don't think many of us were surprised about the so-called 'Monkeygate' affair.

"There are always a few individuals in every team who overstate their position or overplay their importance.

"Ponting led his team very aggressively and probably hasn't often had to face an opposition team that's been just as aggressive in response.

"Add to the mix Matthew Hayden and Symonds - who are always at you on the field - and you've probably got the three most overtly aggressive players in world cricket.

"They like to get under the skin of their opponents, whereas the other guys in the Aussie team just get on with the game."

Vettori's comments are significant because most cricket observers expect a depleted New Zealand side will be like lambs to the slaughter against an Australian team baying for blood.

For the past decade, Australia has had a reputation for being "captain killers" with its ploy of making touring skippers the target of some verbal fireworks.

But Vettori, who has taken over from 10-year captain Stephen Fleming, has turned the tables and clearly wants to fight fire with fire, starting with the first Test at the Gabba on Thursday.

He has singled out Ponting, who returned from India last week with his captaincy under siege, for special attention.

Vettori remembers the bitter controversy that erupted the last time New Zealand was here, with Kiwi coach John Bracewell questioning Shaun Tait's action.

Trans-Tasman relations plummeted and Vettori wrote that Ponting often went looking for a verbal fight.

"There was another incident with Ponting after we said a few things to Brad Haddin when we believed he was running on the wicket," Vettori said.

"There were a few heated words exchanged and when I later went to the press conference an Australian reporter asked me whether something had happened in the middle and I remember saying, 'Not really. It's just guys running on the wicket but that happens in every single game of cricket'.

"That seemed fine but Ponting, as was the case with his treatment of the Indians, seemed to be spoiling for a fight and the next day we had to read a blow-by-blow account in the papers of his version.

"Personally, I've always been a person who thinks that disputes, altercations and even just conversations should stay on the field and that you should never let them go too far."