Australia playing xi

ICC World Test Championship: Veteran batter Steve Smith will continue to partner Usman Khawaja at the top of Australia's batting order as skipper Pat Cummins confirmed his playing XI for the first Test against New Zealand, which commences at Basin Reserve on Thursday.

The line-up has the same bowling unit for the sixth consecutive Test stretching back to the home summer opener against Pakistan at Perth.

Smith has been deployed as an opener since the retirement of David Warner earlier this year and produced some mixed performances during Australia's most recent Test series against the West Indies. After failing to perform on three occasions, Smith scored an unbeaten 91 in the second innings against the Caribbean side in Brisbane.