Australia have decided to field an unchanged playing XI that played against West Indies in the day-night Test in Brisbane for the opening Test of the two-match series against New Zealand starting February 29. The opening Test will be played at the Basin Reserve in Wellington.
The reigning World Test champions have made only a single change to their XI since the retirement of David Warner in the form of star allrounder Cameron Green. Green who was warming the bench in the presence of David Warner during the home series against Pakistan has been given a key role in the middle order.
The elevation of Steve Smith up the order as an opener has led to the promotion of Green in the batting order. The 24-year-old allrounder previously batted in the lower middle order for the Aussies and was put on the sidelines after Mitchell Marsh's rise to form.
Meanwhile, the Test series between the Trans-Tasman rivals is expected to be an intriguing one. The reigning World Test champions are third on the World Test Championship (WTC 2023-25 cycle) points table with a PCT (Points Percentage System) of 55.00 whereas the Blackcaps who won the inaugural WTC title are at the zenith of the standings with a PCT of 75.00.
Australia XI:
Steve Smith, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Cameron Green, Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh, Alex Carey (wk), Pat Cummins (c), Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood.
Australia Test squad:
Pat Cummins (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Michael Neser, Matthew Renshaw, Steve Smith (vc), Mitchell Starc
New Zealand Test squad:
Tim Southee (c), Tom Blundell (wk), Devon Conway, Matt Henry, Scott Kuggeleijn, Tom Latham, Daryl Mitchell, Will O'Rourke, Glenn Phillips, Rachin Ravindra, Mitchell Santner, Neil Wagner, Kane Williamson, Will Young.
