New Zealand v Australia, Trans-Tasman T20 tri-series, Auckland: NZ bat, Wheeler comes in for Santner

New Zealand chose to set a target at Eden Park after Kane Williamson won the toss in the re-run of the first-ever T20 international. They were without Mitchell Santner, who was suffering from knee trouble, with Ben Wheeler included instead.

Williamson suggested that New Zealand felt a used surface would possibly become more difficult to bat on, and the decision was also partly influenced by history at the ground: the team chasing has won only one of the last seven T20Is in Auckland. Despite the unusual boundary dimensions, Eden Park is the third-slowest scoring T20 venue in New Zealand.

Australia’s captain, David Warner, lost the toss for the first time in the series but had wanted to bowl first anyway. The visitors were unchanged, having already qualified for the final.

England will be looking on with interest from Hamilton, where they play New Zealand in the final tri-series group game on Sunday. Only an Australian win will keep them in contention to reach Wednesday’s final, which also takes place at Eden Park.

New Zealand 1 Martin Guptill, 2 Colin Munro, 3 Kane Williamson (capt), 4 Ross Taylor, 5 Mark Chapman, 6 Colin de Grandhomme, 7 Tim Seifert (wk), 8 Tim Southee, 9 Ish Sodhi, 10 Trent Boult, 11 Ben Wheeler

Australia 1 David Warner (capt), 2 D’Arcy Short, 3 Chris Lynn, 4 Glenn Maxwell, 5 Aaron Finch, 6 Marcus Stoinis, 7 Alex Carey (wk), 8 Ashton Agar, 9 Andrew Tye, 10 Kane Richardson, 11 Billy Stanlake

Courtesy : espncricinfo