Daijiworld Media Network

Birmingham, Jun 12 : Hola to one and all for the Trans-Tasman clash between Australia and New Zealand from Edgbaston. Australia are in dire straits following their heavy loss to England in the first match while New Zealand will look to seal their spot in the semi-final with a win over their arch-foes.
 
After their meek surrender against England in their opening game, a struggling Australia will have to work on their batting frailties when they take on a confident New Zealand in a Group A match of the Champions Trophy today (June 12).

There are some changes expected in both teams. News is floating around that Daniel Vettori might NOT play in today's match. There is also doubt whether David Warner will play for Australia in today's match due to a breach of discipline. There is confirmed news now that David Warner will NOT play today.

Australia have won the toss and elected to bat

Brendon McCullum: 'The pitch looks really good, it is good to be batting second with rain expected later. Vettori is fine and he will play. Our last match was an incredibly tough one. We played very well for majority of the match and were lucky to end up with a win.'

Bailey: 'We will have a bat. This looks like an used wicket, there are some scruff marks on the track, should help our spinners. Two changes for us. Warner and Starc sit out of this match, Doherty and Maxwell will play instead. This is a crucial game for us, they have already won their first match. We need to do much better today.'

Teams:

New Zealand (Playing XI): Luke Ronchi(w), Martin Guptill, Kane Williamson, Ross Taylor, James Franklin, Brendon McCullum(c), Daniel Vettori, Nathan McCullum, Tim Southee, Kyle Mills, Mitchell McClenaghan

Australia (Playing XI): Shane Watson, Matthew Wade(w), Phillip Hughes, George Bailey(c), Adam Voges, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, James Faulkner, Mitchell Johnson, Clint McKay, Xavier Doherty

Stat to start off: New Zealand have not beaten Australia in an ICC World Event since the 1999 World Cup.

Australia

Australia, sans their regular skipper Michael Clarke, proved to be no match for the English side as they suffered a huge 48-run defeat to start their campaign on a wrong foot.

With Clarke, who is suffering from a back problem, still nowhere near making a comeback, it will be a big test for the stand-in skipper George Bailey to turn Australia's fortune around.

Australia bowlers Clint McKay, James Faulkner and Shane Watson did a decent job in restricting England to 269 when they were looking at a 300-plus score at one stage but they still need to add more sting to their attack.

The Aussie batsmen could not pose any threat to the England bowlers, who strangulated them with both pace and spin.

Barring skipper Bailey and allrounder James Faulkner, none of the batsmen were up the mark. What was baffling was most of them got starts but later blew those away.

The two-time champions, hence, will have to re-think about the team composition as another defeat will pave their way for an early exit from the tournament.

New Zealand

New Zealand, on the other hand, are high on confidence having started their campaign on a winning note, beating Sri Lanka by one wicket. The 2000 Champions Trophy winners came into the tournament after a morale-boosting 2-1 series win over England and they would look to carry their good form when they clash with Australia.

Left-arm medium pacer Mitchell McClenaghan, pace spearhead Kyle Mills and their part-time spinner Nathan McCullum did a wonderful job, sharing eight Sri Lakan wickets among them in their opener and skipper Brendon McCullum will expect a similar effort tomorrow as well.

However, the Kiwis will have to work on their batting as they would not want the job to be left till the last man, the way it happened against the Sri Lankans.

New Zealand have an able opener in Martin Guptill, who smashed two consecutive hundreds in the England series, while their batting mainstay Ross Taylor also has been in good form ahead of the Champions Trophy. Captain, Brendon McCullum too on his day can demolish any attack but his batsmen panicked during their chase against Sri Lanka in the low-scoring match and this is one area, the skipper would want his team to improve.