Chappell-Hadlee Trophy up for grabs on Saturday

The Chappell-Hadlee Trophy will be dusted off and put up for grabs when New Zealand host Australia in their World Cup clash at Eden Park on Saturday. The teams competed for the trophy in annual series from 2004-05 until 2009-10, but it has since then become one of the forgotten pieces of silverware in world cricket.

After Australia won 3-2 in New Zealand in 2009-10, the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy has only once been made available: during the World Cup match between the sides in Nagpur in 2011. It was not even on the table for the Champions Trophy game between Australia and New Zealand in 2013, which New Zealand Cricket chief executive David White said this week was "an oversight."

In any case, that game was washed out. But the fact that there has not been a bilateral Australia-New Zealand series in nearly five years is a shame, and means that the trophy will be a tokenistic prize for the winner of this week's match. The potential to qualify in a higher place in their World Cup pool is, realistically, of greater incentive.

If results were to fall in such a way that Australia and New Zealand meet in a semi-final, hosting rights will be given to whichever side finished higher in Group A. For Australia, victory this weekend is imperative, given their shared points from the wash-out with Bangladesh and New Zealand's unbeaten run so far at the World Cup.

"It is not as if either side needs any added incentive when playing each other, but the fact the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy is on the line on Saturday certainly provides it," James Sutherland, the chief executive of Cricket Australia, said. "The trophy is named after two of our great cricketing families and so to have it at stake in this highly anticipated match is entirely appropriate.

"We are due to play Test cricket against each other next summer and we are examining the schedule to see what options we have for playing each other in one-day internationals on a more regular basis in the future."