McCullum's Popeye arm not a worry - Hesson

It would be no surprise if Brendon McCullum's diet consisted largely of spinach as New Zealand coach Mike Hesson joked that the captain's arm looked a bit like Popeye's following a fearsome blow by Mitchell Johnson.

Thoughts of a broken bone where the immediate reaction from many after seeing the Johnson thunderbolt hammer into McCullum's forearm in the third over of New Zealand's chase, but McCullum shook it off as he sped to a 21-ball half-century before finding mid-off to set the scene for the epic conclusion to the match.

McCullum's arm was heavily strapped at the post-match presentation and when he lifted the Chappell-Hadlee trophy following ice treatment in the dressing room.

Hesson said that the damage to McCullum's arm is thought to be restricted to a burst blood vessel. McCullum will be monitored over the next couple of days as the team takes a break before reconvening for their next match against Afghanistan in Napier on March 8.

"He looks a bit like Popeye, other than he's pretty good," Hesson said. "It is pretty swollen, so we'll try and get that down first and make another assessment in a day or so…but all the signs are he'll be fine."

McCullum's latest coursing innings had carried New Zealand halfway to their target in less than eight overs, but his dismissal started a wobble of 3 for 1 either side of the interval. Then there was an even more dramatic slide when they subsided from 131 for 4 to 146 for 9 against Mitchell Starc's blistering inswinging yorkers.

It left Starc with two balls at No. 11 Trent Boult to steal an astonishing win for Australia, but Boult survived and then Kane Williamson lofted a straight six off Pat Cummins that will go down in New Zealand cricket folklore.

"Trent showed a heck of a lot of character to leave a wide one when he had a fair bit of adrenalin going. It showed he was still thinking clearly," Hesson said. "Kane realised he had to make a move, and to play the shot he did showed what a quality player he is.

"[It was] pure elation. Turning to the rest of the team and seeing the joy on their faces was pretty special. There were a lot of people who emotionally invested in outcome, who lived and breathed every ball."

Hesson also had praise for the 52-run partnership between Williamson and Corey Anderson which took New Zealand to the brink of a far more comfortable victory before Anderson picked out mid-on against Glenn Maxwell. Anderson did not look comfortabe early in his innings, but took 16 off Mitchell Johnson's comeback over although it was not the final swing of the match.

"The way they developed that partnership after a shaky start showed lot of character," Hesson said. "Those guys will be better for that experience. I think everybody will, to be fair."

However, he did concede the batting line-up will need to become tighter against the moving ball after the amount of swing on offer so far in the tournament took them by surprise.

"There was some high quality swing bowling," he said. "Once lacquer came off ball it started to swing more. It's a character trait of the Duke ball rather than the Kookaburra. That's unusual but two white balls can show you can get bowler dominated games

"Tim showed that at the Cake Tin and sometimes the characteristics of the ball allows it to swing. It's something we're going to have to be a little bit better prepared for next time."

The New Zealand squad will now have two days off before starting the build-up to facing Afghanistan. Hesson said that changes will be considered to allow squad players a match, having used the same XI throughout the tournament, but was also wary of breaking up a winning team.