NZ vs AUS 1st Test: Australia Announce Playing 11; New Zealand Lose Devon Conway

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Australia revealed their playing 11 for their first Test match against New Zealand in Wellington from Thursday (February 29). Meanwhile, New Zealand suffered a blow as opener Devon Conway is ruled out due to an injury.

As far as the Australian 11 is concerned, Steve Smith will continue to play the role of openers as their captain Pat Cummins announced the playing 11 a day before the match.

Smith has been kept as an opener since veteran batter David Warner's retirement earlier this year, and his performance in Australia's most recent Test series against the West Indies was mixed, with the professional right-hander failing three times before hitting a valuable 91* in the second innings in Brisbane.

Cummins revealed that Australia would choose an unchanged XI for the first Test against the Kiwis, which begins on Thursday at Basin Reserve, with Smith at the top of the batting order and Cameron Green and Mitch Marsh definitely starting in a relatively fresh top six.

Australia XI: Steve Smith, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Cameron Green, Travis Head, Mitch Marsh, Alex Carey (wk), Pat Cummins (c), Mitch Starc, Nathan Lyon and Josh Hazlewood.

Meanwhile, Devon Conway sustained a blow to his left thumb while wicketkeeping in the second over of the third T20I match against Australia. He was forced to leave the field and Finn Allen took over the role behind the stumps.

For the rest of the match, Conway didn't come out to field or bat. The left-handed batter has yet to hit a ball since picking up the injury. New Zealand coach Gary Stead was unhappy to lose a player of Conway's calibre for the critical ICC World Test Championship match, which begins on Thursday in Wellington. The 32-year-old has been replaced in the Kiwis' squad by fellow batter Henry Nicholls.

"It's disappointing for Devon to be ruled out on the eve of an important match. He's a class player batting at the top of the order for us and I know he was really looking forward to this series," Stead said as quoted by ICC.

-With inputs from ANI