Countdown to Australia v New Zealand one-day cricket at Manuka Oval

Gates open at 1pm for the 2.20pm start but eager fans are already practising the Aussie! Aussie! Aussie! chant.

Twelve-year-old Charlotte Green said a good dose of home support would help Australia to victory.

"They are a very strong side. I think Australia is more competitive with its cricket," she said.

But win or lose, Year 6 student Armand Saad said it was important "to be a good sport"

Cricket ACT chief executive Cameron French said young fans weren't wrong and Australia would fight hard on Tuesday to defend their world No. 1 ranking at one-day level.

"We have world-class players in [Mitchell] Starc, [David] Warner, [Steve] Smith and [Josh] Hazelwood so we are expecting a really fierce contest," he said.

"The New Zealanders are currently ranked third in the world and we have a lot of history with really strong games against them. We know we will have a great game and just hope to see the Australians finish on top."

With balmy temperatures forecast and the silly season now in full swing a good turnout is expected.

"Ticket sales have been really strong and we are expecting sales to continue off the back of the first one-dayer [in Sydney] on Sunday," French said.

The sport is marketing strongly to families by offering "family friendly" pricing and selling the event as both an entertainment and sports event.

"This is the cheapest opportunity for families to come along," he said. "We are hoping to appeal to families to make a real day of it."

Seeing role models in the flesh was the best way to inspire the next generation stars of the game, French said.

"We think that is really important, from having young girls aspire to play with our elite female team, the Meteors, and the Southern Stars but for the men's cricket team as well," he said.

"When people in communities can go and watch their role models play live it does create that inspiration and that pathway for kids to dream about being out here one day."