Former Australian international Luke Ronchi will open the batting when he makes his New Zealand debut in the first one-day international against England.
Ronchi and Martin Guptill will face the new ball at Lord’s on Friday, replacing BJ Watling and Hamish Rutherford, who performed the duty in the last two games of the 2-1 home series loss to England in February.
Guptill opened in the first game of that series before undergoing surgery on his thumb.
Ronchi, 32, earns a first start for his country of birth. He is also likely to replace Brendon McCullum as wicketkeeper, with the captain poised to remain at No.6 in the batting lineup.
Dannevirke-born Ronchi was raised in Perth and played four ODIs and three Twenty20 internationals for Australia in the West Indies five years ago when Brad Haddin was unavailable.
He only batted twice in the ODIs but the second innings was memorable, racing to 64 off 53 balls at St Kitts, swatting six sixes. He also took five catches and made two stumpings.
Ronchi has since shifted to Wellington and earned a call-up to the squad which will also contest the Champions Trophy tournament next month following three ODIs against England.
Coach Mike Hesson is puzzled by English media reports rating his side a strong prospect in the Champions Trophy.
“We’re ranked eighth in the world in one-day cricket so I’m not sure where that’s come from. But in knockout tournaments, we tend to step up,” he said.
“Beating South Africa in South Africa (2-1 in January) gave us a big boost and we played some decent cricket in New Zealand as well.”
Hesson was heartened by the form of former captain Daniel Vettori, after being overlooked by his Royal Challengers Bangalore side in the Indian Premier League.
Vettori scored an unbeaten 150 and took four wickets with his left-arm spin in a low-key warm-up match in Northampton.
“Dan’s obviously a world-class player. He’s been sitting in India for six weeks, training every day.
“The fact that he got out on the park and did what he did just reaffirmed what a good player he is and how much we miss him.”