Will anyone turn up to dead rubber at MCG?

Tomorrow's ODI looms as the lowest ODI crowd at the MCG since 2014. Photo / Photosport

A fairytale lifeline for hometown boy Glenn Maxwell might be Australia's only hope of lighting a fire at the MCG and igniting Melbourne's dwindling interest in one-day cricket.

For some time now the Big Bash has outstripped international crowds at the mighty 'G' and across the country and it's set to continue for tomorrow night's Chappell-Hadlee dead-rubber against New Zealand with officials hoping for a best-case scenario of 25,000 spectators.

The possible injection of Maxwell into the line-up after the most controversial week of his career could provide a last-minute buzz around town, but it still looms as the lowest ODI crowd at the MCG since less than 15,000 watched Australia play South Africa back in 2014.

Maxwell is the only member of Australia's 13-man squad yet to play against the Black Caps, and with the series now wrapped up and captain Steve Smith promising changes, it would be harsh to continue the 28-year-old's exile particularly when he could have been playing Sheffield Shield instead.

Plenty would be interested to see how Maxwell handles the spotlight of a recall and how he might interact with 'keeper and Victorian teammate Matthew Wade in particular.

But low crowds at the MCG and at other major grounds around Australia for one-dayers is unlikely to change any time soon as fans flock to the Big Bash.

Interestingly, ODIs still often rate higher than any other format on television, but only 22,502 attended the Sydney opener against NZ and 9,173 in Canberra when the Chappell-Hadlee trophy was won.

The average crowd for MCG one-day games in the past five years, not including the one-off World Cup, is a touch over 32,000, which tops all venues around the country and if they crack 25,000 tomorrow night it will be the best attendance of this bizarrely scheduled early-December series.

But at Australia's sporting coliseum, crowds that fail to top 30,000 make for a cavernous atmosphere that comes across on television as if only friends and family have shown up.

The figures are put in the shade by Big Bash crowds from last summer for the Melbourne Stars.

The average attendance for five MCG games for the T20 franchise was more than 42,000.

That included a Big Bash record 80,883 for the local derby against the Melbourne Renegades, a bigger figure than for any one-day game at the MCG, except the 2015 World Cup final which drew a world record 93,013.

And in the summers of 2011/12 and 2010/11, crowds at two T20 Internationals in Melbourne drew 55,000 more people than two one-day games at the MCG in the same seasons.

Australian all-rounder Mitch Marsh says the home team won't let up in tomorrow's tri-series dead rubber against New Zealand as they look for a clean sweep.

And after a swashbuckling 76 not out on Tuesday night, Marsh said no matter how many turned up, the home team would be going all-out to win again.

"We spoke about (a clean sweep) straight away last night," Marsh said yesterday.

""It's obviously lovely to win the series but we're not going to just settle for that. We've got another series in New Zealand in a couple of months' time so we really want to go on with it.

"We're representing our country in the series and we want to win 3-0."