Big Picture

New Zealand's home season will be defined by what happens over the next few days in Christchurch. If they can bounce back from the heavy defeat in Wellington to take a rare Test off Australia the summer will be considered a success and their position near the top of WTC table will be consolidated. Another defeat, which history suggests is the likelier result, and there will be plenty of questions lingering ahead of their next Test assignments in September which includes a one-off fixture against Afghanistan then away tours of Sri Lanka and India.

In many respects, the same could be said of Australia. If they leave New Zealand 2-0 it will mean six Test wins over the southern hemisphere season; a shared series, on the back of losing to West Indies at the Gabba, and they, too, will have much to ponder ahead of the showdown with India in November.

Form guide

Australia WLWWW (last five Tests, most recent first)
New Zealand LWWWL

In the spotlight: Tom Latham and Alex Carey

Team news: Ben Sears to debut, Australia unchanged

New Zealand 1 Tom Latham, 2 Will Young, 3 Kane Williamson, 4 Rachin Ravindra, 5 Daryl Mitchell, 6 Tom Blundell (wk), 7 Glenn Phillips, 8 Mitchell Santner/Scott Kuggeleijn, 9 Matt Henry, 10 Tim Southee (capt), 11 Ben Sears

Australia will be unchanged meaning their bowling attack will go through seven Tests unchanged since mid-December,

Australia 1 Usman Khawaja, 2 Steven Smith, 3 Marnus Labuschagne, 4 Cameron Green, 5 Travis Head, 6 Mitchell Marsh, 7 Alex Carey (wk), 8 Mitchell Starc, 9 Pat Cummins (capt), 10 Nathan Lyon, 11 Josh Hazlewood

Pitch and conditions

Hagley Oval produces excellent Test surfaces that can offer some encouragement for the quicks but plenty of potential run-scoring. There has been just one draw in 12 Tests at the venue. The forecast is set fair for the duration of the match and warming up over the weekend.

Stats and trivia

Quotes

"As a side where we're disappointed with last week, but we also realized that we've played some pretty good cricket as a side over the years as well and especially at this ground. There's full belief within those four walls that we can get the job done over the next five days."
Tim Southee

"I think the trend is it starts off really green and it obviously gets a bit flatter. It's not like a Gabba green wicket day one where it's going to seam all over the place. I think they still play pretty truly here. It can be a little bit misleading at times, I think. It looks like a good wicket. It always seems to be pretty consistently good here."
Pat Cummins