Australia chose to bat v New Zealand

Australia's captain Tim Paine won the toss and chose to bat first against a severely depleted New Zealand side on day one of the New Year's Test at the SCG.

Flu-like illness swept through the visiting team in the lead-up to the match, ruling out Kane Williamson alongside Henry Nicholls and Mitchell Santner. Tom Latham was named New Zealand's 30th Test captain, with Jeet Raval recalled, Glenn Phillips on debut, and Todd Astle, William Somerville and Matt Henry coming into the bowling attack in place of Santner, Tim Southee and Trent Boult.

Australia, who had included wristspinner Mitchell Swepson in their squad, were unchanged from the combination that beat New Zealand by 247 runs in the second Test in Melbourne.

Conditions at the SCG are somewhat overcast, and the pitch has a combination of green grass and bare patches that should rough up to take increasing amounts of spin as the game goes on.

Australia 1 David Warner, 2 Joe Burns, 3 Marnus Labuschagne, 4 Steven Smith, 5 Travis Head, 6 Matthew Wade, 7 Tim Paine (capt & wk), 8 Pat Cummins, 9 James Pattinson, 10 Mitchell Starc, 11 Nathan Lyon

New Zealand 1 Tom Latham (capt), 2 Tom Blundell, 3 Jeet Raval, 4 Ross Taylor, 5 Glenn Phillips, 6 BJ Watling (wk), 7 Colin de Grandhomme, 8 Todd Astle, 9 William Somerville, 10 Matt Henry, 11 Neil Wagner