Following the 2-1 one day international series win against the West Indies, New Zealand's cricketers could take second place on the International Cricket Council's world ODI rankings - if they keep winning.
But to do that they'll have to put up strong performances against two of the best sides in the world.
New Zealand is set to play 10 ODIs over the next couple of months - five in Australia and five at home against India.
Two rained-off matches against the West Indies denied the Black Caps a chance to leapfrog Pakistan into fourth place but Dan Vettori and company can still go past Shoaib Malik's side in fourth place as early as January 21st - if Pakistan ends up on the losing side in the opening game of the three-match ODI series against Sri Lanka in Karachi.
Meanwhile, South Africa, after missing an opportunity to replace Australia at the top of the ICC Test Championship table, now has a chance to snatch the number-one ODI spot from Ricky Ponting's side.
But this can only be achieved if Johan Botha's team wins the series 4-1 or 5-0. In case of a 4-1 series result, both the teams would be tied on 125 points each but the Proteas would be placed higher by a fraction of a point.
