Guptill ruled out from the tournament against AUS
For the final match of Chappell-Hadlee Trophy in Hamilton Guptill had been ruled out as New Zealand aim to regain trophy.If Australia win and force a 1-1 series result, then as the holders of the trophy they will retain it. If New Zealand win, they take possession of the trophy with a 2-0 series outcome. In fact, more than that is potentially on the line for Australia: if South Africa defeat Sri Lanka in Johannesburg on Saturday, then a loss to New Zealand would not only mean Australia giving up the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy, but also the No.1 ODI ranking. In that case, South Africa would be the new No.1, Australia would slip to No. 2, and New Zealand would move up to No. 3.
Australia enter this match with Aaron Finch as captain Steven Smith is injured, vice-captain David Warner is resting, Focusing on the remarkable unbeaten 146 from Marcus Stoinis at No. 7 obscures the fact that none of the top six batsmen passed 20. And five members of the team – Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Peter Handscomb, Glenn Maxwell and Shaun Marsh – could be forgiven for having a lot on their minds, for straight after this game they will fly to Dubai to join the Test squad in a training camp ahead of their tour of India.
New Zealand, likewise, have injury concerns, with Martin Guptill ruled out due to a hamstring issue. But they had a wider group of batting contributors in the first match than Australia, with fifties from both Guptill and Neil Broom, and 48 from James Neesham. They will push for a series win in front of a capacity crowd at Hamilton’s Seddon Park: it was announced on the eve of the match that tickets had sold out.