After suffering their first defeat against Zimbabwe on home soil, Australia will host New Zealand in a three-match ODI series starting on Tuesday at the Cazalys Stadium in Queensland from 09:50 AM IST.
Australia and New Zealand were set to lock horns with each other in March 2020 for a three-match ODI series. However, the series was called off after the first ODI courtesy of the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Playing in empty stands, Australia batted first and put on board a total of 258 runs for the fall of seven wickets. The openers David Warner and Aaron Finch scored in excess of sixty runs while Marnus Labuschagne also got a half-century to his name.
In reply, New Zealand was bundled out for 187 with not a single batsman able to score a half-century. Pat Cummins and Mitchell Marsh scalped three wickets each while Josh Hazlewood and Adam Zampa took two apiece.
Current Form
Australia wrapped up the home series against Zimbabwe with a sore defeat against an associate nation but their 2-1 series win was the first ODI series triumph in 2022 after losing 3-2 and 2-1 to Sri Lanka and Pakistan respectively.
On the other hand, New Zealand defeated West Indies on their own turf 2-1 without the services of skipper Kane Williamson who has been battling fitness issues in the recent past. Before that, they defeated Scotland in a one-off ODI and clean-swept Ireland 3-0 in a tightly contested ODI series.
Team News
David Warner is the only batsman in form for Australia
Mitchell Marsh suffered an ankle soreness in the first ODI against Zimbabwe and will remain sidelined for the New Zealand series as well. Josh Inglis is included in the squad to replace him.
Ben Sears replaces Ish Sodhi in the squad that defeated West Indies 2-1 in the ODI series. Mitchell Santner bagged the Man of the Series award in the series against West Indies and will be eager to carry forward his form to the Australia tour.
Head to Head record
Australia holds an edge in the ODI contests over New Zealand with 92 victories as opposed to the latter’s 39. Seven encounters between the two sides ended in no contests. In the last five meetings between the two sides, New Zealand has won two games while Australia came out on top twice.
Key Players
Tom Latham is scoring runs for fun at the moment
Tom Latham: Latham started the first match against West Indies by putting onboard only 12 runs while slumped to a duck in the second ODI. However, in the third ODI, he responded with a patient knock of 69 runs off 75 balls as New Zealand chased down the total of 302 runs with 17 balls to spare.
Josh Hazlewood: Hazlewood was at his economical best against Zimbabwe and also responded with four wickets in the series. New Zealand could come up with a similar strategy to preserve wickets against him while scoring runs against other bowlers in the powerplay.
Predicted Playing XI
Australia: David Warner, Aaron Finch, Steve Smith, Alex Carey, Marcus Stoinis, Cameron Green, Glenn Maxwell, Ashton Agar, Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood
New Zealand: Martin Guptill, Finn Allen, Kane Williamson, Tom Latham, Daryl Mitchell, Michael Bracewell, James Neesham, Mitchell Santner, Tim Southee, Lockie Ferguson, Trent Boult
Prediction
Australia must be low in confidence after losing the third ODI to Zimbabwe. New Zealand, on the other hand, is the No.1 ranked ODI side in the world and is fresh off winning a series against West Indies. Considering the contrasting form, we predict New Zealand to win the match.