DHARAMSALA, India (Reuters) – New Zealand captain Tom Latham won the toss and elected to field against Australia, who welcomed back opener Travis Head for the trans-Tasman 50-overs World Cup contest on Saturday.
Head, who missed Australia’s first five matches in the tournament recovering from a fracture, replaced all-rounder Cameron Green in the side, which has strung together three wins in a row to revive the campaign to lie fourth in the points table.
New Zealand, who sit one place above Australia, also made one change, bringing in James Neesham in place of Mark Chapman, who is nursing a calf niggle.
“Early start, reasonable surface, there may be something early with the new ball because of a day game,” Latham said of the decision to field.
Australia counterpart Pat Cummins said Australia would fancy setting up a big target for an in-form New Zealand team.
“They are a team we know really well, but they know us really well too,” Cummins said.
“Excited to get going. We’ll try and set up a big score.”
Teams:
Australia: Travis Head, David Warner, Mitchell Marsh, Steve Smith, Marnus Labuschagne, Josh Inglis, Glenn Maxwell, Pat Cummins (captain), Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood
New Zealand: Devon Conway, Will Young, Rachin Ravindra, Daryl Mitchell, Tom Latham (captain), Glenn Phillips, James Neesham, Mitchell Santner, Matt Henry, Lockie Ferguson, Trent Boult
(Reporting by Amlan Chakraborty in New Delhi; editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)
