England wins toss and bowls in 1st test against New Zealand

CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand (AP) — England won the toss and chose to bowl against New Zealand on Thursday on the first day of the first test at Hagley Oval.

The Black Caps come into the series following their 3-0 series win at India. They were the first team to sweep India in a home series of three tests or more.

The challenge now is for New Zealand to replicate that form in their own conditions, though captain Tom Latham says his players can’t dwell on past performances.

“It was an amazing couple of weeks, what we were able to do over in India,” Latham said. “Coming here, as cliche as it might sound, that is in the past. It’s all about coming here and focusing on what challenge lies ahead.”

New Zealand already has gone against conventional wisdom by changing a winning team. Ajaz Patel, who took 11 wickets in the third test against India, hasn’t even made squad for the England series. And Will Young, who was player of the series in India, has been dropped to allow Kane Williamson to return.

Williamson missed the India series because of injury.

New Zealand also has named Wellington fast-bowling allrounder Nathan Smith to make his test debut. Smith’s call-up allows New Zealand to field a four-pronged pace attack and adds depth to the batting.

England has handed a debut to 21-year-old Barbados-born left-hander Jacob Bethell, who will bat at No. 3. Bethell previously has played eight one-day internationals and seven Twenty20 internationals but only 21 first-class matches.

Bethell won his call-up when wicketkeeper Jordan Cox, who was in line to make his test debut, sustained a broken thumb in a training accident. Ollie Pope will now keep wicket.

“Bethell coming in gives him an opportunity up the order, as opposed to just sort of filtering down and not being able to impose himself on the game,” England captain Ben Stokes said.

The series will be played for the Crowe-Thorpe Trophy which commemorates the former New Zealand batter Martin Crowe, who died in 2016 aged 53 — and England’s Graham Thorpe, who died this year at 55.

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New Zealand: Tom Latham (captain), Devon Conway, Kane Williamson, Rachin Ravindra, Daryl Mitchell, Tom Blundell, Glenn Phillips, Nathan Smith, Tim Southee, Matt Henry, William O’Rourke.

England: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Jacob Bethell, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ollie Pope, Ben Stokes (captain), Chris Woakes, Gus Atkinson, Brydon Carse, Shoaib Bashir.