Blair Tickner to make Black Caps test debut against England at Bay Oval

First cricket test: Black Caps v England.

Where: Bay Oval, Tauranga.

When: Thursday, February 16, 2pm start (day one of five).

Coverage: Live on Spark Sport and Today FM, live updates on Stuff from 1.30pm.

Pace bowler Blair Tickner will make his test debut for New Zealand in the first cricket test against England starting on Thursday.

Black Caps captain Tim Southee told media at Bay Oval in Mount Maunganui on Wednesday that the 29-year-old – who has played nine ODIs and 17 T20 internationals – will be part of the XI to take on the tourists in the day-night test match.

Tickner gets his chance with Kyle Jamieson injured and Matt Henry unavailable for the first test, while the hosts have opted not to consider Trent Boult.

Southee said while the XI is yet to be finalised, Tickner will definitely play – meaning Jacob Duffy and Scott Kuggeleijn will have to wait to see which one of them will also debut if New Zealand opt to use four pace bowlers as expected.

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England will have veteran quick bowler Stuart Broad returning to their XI for the first game of the two-test series. He’ll join James Anderson and Ollie Robinson, with left-arm spinner Jack Leach and captain and seamer Ben Stokes as the main bowlers.

While Southee wouldn’t be drawn on the make-up of New Zealand’s bowling attack, it’s most likely the hosts will play four quicks – given the lack of sun the Bay Oval wicket has seen during summer – with offspinner Michael Bracewell providing the spin bowling.

“We’ll wait and see how the wicket shapes up tomorrow,” Southee said.

“A whole lot of things factor into it – the first day-night test here, having a cyclone two days before a test match … the groundsmen are reasonably happy with how the wicket is … I imagine it’ll be a pretty good surface.”

Stokes was yet to appraise the surface before England began their training session on Wednesday afternoon and was wary of reading too much in to how the wicket looked.

“Watching test matches in New Zealand in the past, I don’t think you can look too much into the wickets here when they’re green like that.

“The two-day practice game we played [last week in Hamilton], the wicket was very green, had a lot of grass on it, and it played very very true.

“So I don’t know how much effect it’ll have really – I just hope I lose the toss,” Stokes laughed.

In contrast to how he often bats, the Black Caps skipper took a cautious, defensive approach to a number of questions on the absence of Boult, after coach Gary Stead said earlier this week they decided not to seek the veteran left-armer’s presence.

“He’s made his decision at the end of last year handing back his contract,” Southee said of his long-time new-ball partner.

“New Zealand Cricket have made the decision to back the guys who are contracted and playing domestic cricket here.”

He was also wary of revealing much on how the Black Caps will aim to respond to England’s aggressive approach, while still heaping praise for the way their opponents have played test cricket under Stokes and new coach Brendon McCullum – the word ‘exciting’ got a punishing workout.

“We’ve got a few new faces in our side compared to what we’ve had – we’ve been a pretty consistent test side there for a long period of time.

“We’ve got a way in which we play, and we have had a lot of success in these conditions over the years.”

Likely XIs:

New Zealand: Tom Latham, Devon Conway, Kane Williamson, Henry Nicholls, Daryl Mitchell, Tom Blundell (wk), Michael Bracewell, Tim Southee (captain), Neil Wagner, Jacob Duffy, Blair Tickner.

England: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (captain), Ben Foakes (wk), Stuart Broad, Ollie Robinson, Jack Leach, Jimmy Anderson.