Black Caps boosted by Guptill fitness

New Zealand have received a huge boost on the eve of their first T20 against Australia, with gun opening batter Martin Guptill available for selection.

Guptill had been in doubt after suffering a hamstring injury in New Zealand's domestic T20 competition but Black Caps captain Kane Williamson confirmed the 34-year-old is fit to play in Monday's series opener in Christchurch.

"He's come through good so that's great," Williamson said.

"He had a little bit of a lay off there after one of the domestic matches and he's recovering well."

While Guptill is New Zealand's highest run-scorer in T20 internationals, he has been out of form this summer.

In five T20 knocks against Pakistan and the West Indies, the hard-hitting right-hander scored just 85 runs, and in his last four T20 matches for Auckland, he averaged 11.50.

Guptill has been backed by Black Caps coach Gary Stead, who said: "We have faith he will come good'"

And Australia T20 captain Aaron Finch says his side have prepared for Guptill to be at his best.

"He's a great player, he's had a lot of success in one-day and T20 cricket," Finch said.

"He's played some great knocks against us.

"As you know, especially with guys who are so dynamic at the top of the order, it sometimes it can take one shot, one innings and they're back flying again.

"He's someone we're doing a lot of planning for, a lot of preparation, you never take anyone with his quality and his skill lightly.

"We've seen in the past how he can take a game from you so quickly in that powerplay so we're really going to have to be on from ball one."

With Guptill fit, New Zealand enter tomorrow's clash at Hagley Oval at full strength, unlike Australia, who are missing their Test players.

Despite the postponement of the South Africa Test tours, Australia's Test players were unavailable for selection due to pre-departure protocols, leaving Finch to lead a squad without the likes of Steve Smith, David Warner, Pat Cummins and Mitch Starc.

But Williamson is not expecting this undermanned Australian side without their big guns to be a walkover.

"There's still plenty of big names as there always are," Williamson said.

"The depth in Australian cricket is something that's always noted.

"A number of their newer players have had experience playing in other comps around the world as well, so we know they're a very strong side and we're looking forward to the challenge tomorrow night."

Qantas T20I tour of New Zealand 2021

Australia squad: Aaron Finch (c), Ashton Agar, Jason Behrendorff, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Ben McDermott, Riley Meredith, Josh Philippe, Jhye Richardson, Kane Richardson, Daniel Sams, Tanveer Sangha, D'Arcy Short, Marcus Stoinis, Ashton Turner, Andrew Tye, Matthew Wade, Adam Zampa.

New Zealand squad: Kane Williamson (c), Hamish Bennett, Trent Boult, Mark Chapman, Devon Conway, *Martin Guptill (pending fitness test), Kyle Jamieson, Jimmy Neesham, Glenn Phillips, Mitchell Santner, Tim Seifert (wk), Ish Sodhi, Tim Southee. *Finn Allen (on stand-by for Guptill)

1st T20: February 22, Hagley Oval, Christchurch, 5pm AEDT

2nd T20: February 25, University of Otago Oval, Dunedin, 12noon AEDT

3rd T20: March 03, Sky Stadium, Wellington, 5pm AEDT

4th T20: March 05, Eden Park, Auckland, 5pm AEDT

5th T20: March 07, Bay Oval, Tauranga, 12noon AEDT

All matches will be shown live in Australia on Fox Cricket and Kayo