Australia will play the meaningless final game of the Chappell-Hadlee series in Hamilton on Tuesday without a match eve training session as the team seeks to recover from their worst losing streak in a decade.

Not since 1997, when Steve Waugh and Mark Taylor led the side to five consecutive losses spread across three countries, has Australia stooped this low, and such a serious loss of form in the lead-up to a World Cup is almost unheard of.

Australia has generally endured a difficult season two years out from the cup, necessitating changes that allow the side to freshen for the only serious prize in the limited-overs game.

Increasingly perplexed acting captain Michael Hussey said a win in the final game was vital in order to prevent the team from carrying their current state of ineffectiveness to the Caribbean next month.

"You don't want to be losing, there's no question about that, but we can't afford to panic," he said. "We've got to keep trusting what we're about."

That trust allowed the team to omit training from the schedule for Monday, in a concession that mental and physical tiredness cannot be eradicated by net sessions.

Certainly there is little problem with the batting of Hussey, who has arguably been hard done by as captain, top scoring in each of his three matches but not getting enough support with the bat (on Friday in Wellington) or in the field at Auckland's Eden Park on Sunday.

"Maybe I should get a duck and maybe we might win," Hussey said ruefully.

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