Fast bowler Pat Cummins replaced Josh Hazelwood in the Australian side to further strengthen their impressive pace attack while their tournament co-hosts New Zealand named an unchanged side. The Australians, who have won 11 of their 16 one-day matches against New Zealand at Eden Park, trail the home side in the Pool A standings after their game against Bangladesh was rained off following a decisive victory over England.
New Zealand have beaten Sri Lanka, Scotland and England and were full of confidence before Saturday's match after showing consistent form in both the one-day and the test arenas over the past 18 months.
A capacity crowd of 40,000 poured into Eden Park, where New Zealand defeated Australia in the opening game of the 1992 tournament and the game started in glorious sunshine with a predicted high temperature of 27 degrees Celsius.
On paper both sides are evenly matched with aggressive opening batsmen, solid middle orders and forceful finishers down the order. Both teams also possess potent fast bowling resources.. "The wicket looks fantastic, pretty even for both teams," Clarke said in a pitchside interview. "There's a good crowd, let's hope we can entertain them."
New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum said he would have bowled first if he had won the toss. "The wicket looks great, the outfield looks amazing," he said. "This is certainly one of the big games for us. Same team for us, that's the beauty of our side and we'll chase whatever total they set us."
(Editing by Nick Mulvenney)
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