Australia aim for winning start

Sydney: A strong Australian outfit will fancy a winning start against a heavily depleted New Zealand side, when they begin their three-match One-Day International (ODI) series at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) on Sunday.

Both the teams are coming off series defeats in their previous outings in 50-over cricket, but Australia will hope to put up better performances in the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy 2016-17 at home.

Australia lost 1-2 in their last meeting with the Kiwis in an away series this year, but resilience is the need of the hour and Steven Smith’s men will be eager to put disappointments of the past behind

Australian selectors are done experimenting with their squad following humiliating 0-5 clean sweep in South Africa, which means Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood will feature in all three matches of this series in order to set things right.

The hosts have also added batting all-rounder Hilton Cartwright to their side, along with comeback all-rounder Glenn Maxwell and right-arm injury-prone pacer Patrick Cummins.

Mitchell Marsh has found a place in the ODI side after being dropped from the Tests, and he will be keen to make a strong statement. For Western Australia against Queensland, Marsh scored 14 and 0 in the two innings, but claimed 2 for 74 and 4 for 38 in the two innings to keep himself in the race.

On the other hand, New Zealand are heavily depleted. They are without the services of Ross Taylor, Mitchell McClenaghan, Ish Sodhi, Adam Milne and Corey Anderson.

The Blackcaps have thus added a few new faces to their side, with Colin de Grandhomme coming into the side having played an ODI as many as five years ago. The Kiwis also have leg-spinner Todd Astle in their side, along with pacer Lockie Ferguson, who is said to be a tearaway pacer. The Kiwis are also without Anton Devcich and Luke Ronchi, who had ordinary tour to India.

New Zealand have also been bolstered with the news that Trent Boult is likely to be fit in time for the first ODI at Sydney. Boult had suffered a knee injury on India tour and felt some discomfort during the first Test against Pakistan at Christchurch.

The Kiwis are coming off a 2-3 series defeat in India. Under Kane Williamson, they lost the Test series in India but recovered well to take the ODI series into the final game.

Teams from

Australia: Steven Smith (c), David Warner, Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood, Aaron Finch, George Bailey, Travis Head, Glenn Maxwell, Mitchell Marsh, Hilton Cartwright, Matthew Wade (wk), James Faulkner, Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins.

New Zealand: Kane Williamson (c), BJ Watling (wk)Todd Astle, Trent Boult, Colin de Grandhomme, Martin Guptill, Matt Henry, Tom Latham, Colin Munro, Jimmy Neesham, Henry Nicholls, Mitchell Santner, Tim Southee, Lockie Ferguson.

Stats and trivia

• Martin Guptill need 45-run to complete 5000 one day runs.
• James Faulkner required eight runs to completes one thousand.
• 129 ODI played between two neighbours, Australia lead 86-37, while six matches abandoned.
• Australia lost last one-day series against South Africa by 0-5, and the Kiwis also lost against India by 2-3.

Match facts
Sunday Dec 4, 2016 (d/n)
Start time 14:20 local (03:20 GMT)