(Reuters) – England captain Ben Stokes won the toss and elected to bowl first in the opening match of a three-test series against New Zealand at Christchurch’s Hagley Oval on Thursday.

His decision was unsurprising given the tinge of green on the wicket on a warm and sunny day in the south island of New Zealand.

“Typically the wicket generally gets better and better here the more cricket is played on it,” said Stokes.

“There’s a nice covering of grass on it. So hopefully we can get that new ball and then try and get as much out of it as we can.”

New Zealand captain Tom Latham said he would also have chosen to bowl.

“We know if you bat well in the first session, then things can become a little bit easier,” said Latham.

“It’s meant to be a hot day today … so hopefully we can get through that and put some pressure on later on.”

Kane Williamson returned to the Black Caps side after a groin strain ruled him out of the recent tour of India, where New Zealand sensationally swept their hosts 3-0.

Tim Southee, playing his 105th test in his final series, was named alongside debutant all-rounder Nathan Smith as well as Matt Henry and Will O’Rourke in a four-strong seam attack.

England awarded Jacob Bethell a test debut. The 21-year-old was handed his cap by his Warwickshire teammate Chris Woakes and will bat at number three for the first time in first-class cricket.

An injury to wicketkeeper Jordan Cox means Ollie Pope will take the gloves and drop down the order to bat at six with Bethell coming in ahead of Joe Root, who will play his 150th test.While England are already out of the running, New Zealand could qualify for next year’s World Test Championship (WTC) final with a clean sweep of the series.

The teams will for the first time compete for the Crowe-Thorpe trophy, which was named in honour of former New Zealand captain Martin Crowe and England batsman Graham Thorpe.

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

(Reporting by Nick Mulvenney, editing by Ed Osmond)

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