Toss England chose to bat v New Zealand

England captain Joe Root called correctly at the toss and chose to take first use of the batting surface at the Bay Oval, as Mount Maunganui made its Test debut.

Both Root and Kane Williamson, his New Zealand counterpart, took the view that the pitch was good for run-scoring, despite a greenish tinge. First-class games have only been played in Mount Maunganui since 2015, but several of the New Zealand side have experience of the ground in Plunket Shield.

The teams for this Test had been confirmed in advance, with England handing a cap to opener Dom Sibley, a recall to Ollie Pope and preferring Sam Curran to Chris Woakes as their third seamer.

With Williamson fit to resume in charge of the side after missing the T20Is with a hip niggle, New Zealand were able to go with a settled XI, Mitchell Santner preferred to Todd Astle as the team's spinner after missing all of the 2018-19 home summer with injury.

New Zealand are currently ranked No. 2 in the ICC Test rankings, with England a place below. The series will not contribute points to the World Test Championship, however.

New Zealand: 1 Tom Latham, 2 Jeet Raval, 3 Kane Williamson (capt), 4 Ross Taylor, 5 Henry Nicholls, 6 Colin de Grandhomme, 7 BJ Watling (wk), 8 Mitchell Santner, 9 Tim Southee, 10 Neil Wagner, 11 Trent Boult

England: 1 Rory Burns, 2 Dom Sibley, 3 Joe Denly, 4 Joe Root (capt), 5 Ben Stokes, 6 Ollie Pope, 7 Jos Buttler (wk), 8 Sam Curran, 9 Jofra Archer, 10 Jack Leach, 11 Stuart Broad