Andrew McGlashanOct 1, 2025, 06:03 AM

CloseDeputy Editor Andrew arrived at ESPNcricinfo via Manchester and Cape Town, after finding the assistant editor at a weak moment as he watched England’s batting collapse in the Newlands Test. Andrew began his cricket writing as a freelance covering Lancashire during 2004 when they were relegated in the County Championship. In fact, they were top of the table when he began reporting on them but things went dramatically downhill. He likes to let people know that he is a supporter of county cricket, a fact his colleagues will testify to and bemoan in equal quantities.

Australia won the toss and decided to field against New Zealand

Mitchell Marsh continued his preference of fielding first – he has never done anything else when winning the toss in a T20I – for the opening match of the Chappell-Hadlee series against New Zealand at Bay Oval.

New Zealand have included Tim Robinson for Rachin Ravindra after he was ruled out of the series after suffering a nasty facial injury at training. They have also opted for four frontline quicks with Zak Foulkes part of the pace attack alongside the returning Kyle Jameison, but Ben Sears will have to wait his turn.

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The XI also means that legspinner Ish Sodhi will have to wait to become New Zealand’s most capped men’s player in the format. He is currently level on 126 games with Tim Southee.

Australia’s side is largely as expected in the absence of the injured Josh Inglis and Glenn Maxwell, alongside Cameron Green prioritising red-ball cricket. Matt Short returns from a run of injuries to come in at No. 3 with Tim David carded at No. 4 followed by Alex Carey then the two allrounders in Marcus Stoinis (playing his first international since last November) and Mitch Owen.

Xavier Bartlett has taken one of the pace bowling slots ahead of Sean Abbott although with three games in four days there’s every chance all the quicks will get an outing.

The Australian team will wear black armbands in honour of Gordon Carey, Alex’s father, who died last week.

New Zealand 1 Tim Seifert (wk), 2 Devon Conway, 3 Tim Robinson, 4 Daryl Mitchell, 5 Mark Chapman, 6 Bevon Jacobs, 7 Michael Bracewell (capt), 8 Zak Foulkes, 9 Kyle Jamieson, 10 Matt Henry, 11 Jacob Duffy.

Australia 1 Travis Head, 2 Mitchell Marsh (capt), 3 Matt Short, 4 Tim David, 5 Alex Carey (wk), 6 Marcus Stoinis, 7 Mitch Owen, 8 Ben Dwarshuis, 9 Xavier Bartlett, 10 Adam Zampa, 11 Josh Hazlewood