New Zealand vs Australia Live Score Updates, 1st T20: NZ vs Aus, Mitchell Santner-led New Zealand take on 50-over world champions Australia in the first T20I of the 3-match series at the Sky Stadium in Wellington. The T20I series comes just 3 months before the start of the T20 World Cup in the USA and West Indies.
New Zealand will be without regular skipper Kane Williamson, who recently helped the Black Caps to a historic first Test series win against South Africa. In his place, young Mitchell Santner will look to give the Kangaroos a comfortable win on home soil in what could be a huge confidence boost ahead of the T20 World Cup.
Meanwhile, unlike the squad that faced India in the post-50 ODI World Cup, Australia will take a strong side to New Zealand, with big names such as Steve Smith, Pat Cummins, Mitchell Marsh and Glenn Maxwell.
The presence of these big names from both sides means that the first T20 between New Zealand and Australia is likely to be a high-scoring affair. The Sky Stadium pitch, while offering something for the bowlers, is likely to be more in favour of the batsmen, meaning a big score would be the likely outcome.
Head to Head record:
Australia and New Zealand have met each other 16 occasions in international T20 cricket and the Kangaroos have an edge with 10 games going in their favour while the Black Caps could manage to win only 6 encounters. These teams met last for an encounter in the 2022 T20 World Cup where New Zealand easily won the game by 89 runs.
New Zealand and Australia squads:
Australia: Tim David, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Matt Short, Steven Smith, Matthew Wade (wicketkeeper), David Warner, Mitchell Marsh (captain), Glenn Maxwell, Pat Cummins, Nathan Ellis, Josh Hazlewood, Spencer Johnson, Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa
New Zealand: Finn Allen, Devon Conway (wicketkeeper), Will Young, Mitchell Santner (captain), Mark Chapman, Josh Clarkson, Glenn Phillips, Rachin Ravindra, Lockie Ferguson, Adam Milne, Ben Sears, Ish Sodhi, Tim Southee