All you need to know: Australia v New Zealand

When does it start?

The three-match T20I series between Australia and New Zealand begins on Sunday, with the first game at Hamilton's Seddon Park to start at 5.10pm AEDT (7.10pm local time).

The series then moves to Napier before heading to Auckland for the final game at Eden Park.

Australia and the White Ferns then relocate to picturesque Mount Maunganui, for three ODIs at Tauranga's Bay Oval.

Schedule

1st T20: March 28, Seddon Park, Hamilton, 5.10pm AEDT

2nd T20: March 30, McLean Park, Napier, 1pm AEDT

3rd T20: April 1, Eden Park, Auckland, 1pm AEDT

1st ODI: April 4, Bay Oval, Tauranga, 9am AEDT

2nd ODI: April 7, Bay Oval, Tauranga, 12noon AEDT

3rd ODI: April 10, Bay Oval, Tauranga, 12noon AEDT

How can I watch?

All matches will be broadcast live in Australia on Fox Cricket and also live streamed on Kayo Sports, thanks to Foxtel's rights deal with Cricket New Zealand.

There will also be live scores, match highlights and all the latest news on cricket.com.au and the CA Live app.

What's on the line?

New Zealand will be out to snap a drought of series wins against Australia that stretches back to early 2017, when they claimed a 2-1 victory in T20Is on Australian soil.

Australia have not dropped a T20I series since late 2017, winning two World Cups along the way.

The Rose Bowl trophy will be on the line in the ODIs, a piece of silverware Australia have held for more than two decades.

Australia are also on a 21-game winning streak in ODIs, after equalling the world record held by Ricky Ponting's team of 2003 against the White Ferns last October, and have a chance to go where no team has gone before.

Team news

Tayla Vlaeminck and Ellyse Perry are set to make their international returns after more than a year due to lengthy injury lay-offs.

Two uncapped players, Darcie Brown and Hannah Darlington, have been handed their first international call-ups, with express quick Brown tipped to debut in the ODIs, and pace-bowling allrounder Darlington included off the back of outstanding form in the Rebel WBBL.

However, Australia are without allrounder Annabel Sutherland, who was a late scratching due to a stress reaction in her right femur, with off-spinner Molly Strano drafted into her place. Delissa Kimmince is another notable absentee, with the veteran pace bowler on a break from the game.

Brown and Darlington are not the only potential debutants in the Australian ranks; Belinda Vakarewa and Tahlia McGrath could make T20I debuts, while Strano could play her maiden ODI.

Meanwhile New Zealand have welcomed back veteran seamer Lea Tahuhu for the one-day internationals, after she recovered from a hamstring injury suffered against England last month.

The 30-year-old will miss the preceding T20.

Fresh off making their international debuts against England, allrounder Brooke Halliday and 16-year-old spinner Fran Jonas have been named to face Australia. Halliday scored 50 and 60 in her first two outings for the White Ferns, while Jonas impressed in her two ODIs.

Suzie Bates remains on the sidelines as she recovers from shoulder surgery.

Australia ODI & T20I Squad: Meg Lanning (c), Rachael Haynes (vc), Darcie Brown, Nicola Carey, Hannah Darlington, Ashleigh Gardner, Alyssa Healy, Jess Jonassen, Tahlia McGrath, Sophie Molineux, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Molly Strano, Georgia Wareham, Belinda Vakarewa, Tayla Vlaeminck

NZ T20I squad: Sophie Devine (capt), Amy Satterthwaite (vice-capt), Maddy Green, Brooke Halliday, Hayley Jensen, Fran Jonas, Amelia Kerr, Jess Kerr, Rosemary Mair, Frances Mackay, Katey Martin (wk), Thamsyn Newton, Hannah Rowe

NZ ODI squad: Sophie Devine (capt), Amy Satterthwaite (vice-capt), Lauren Down, Maddy Green, Brooke Halliday, Hayley Jensen, Leigh Kasperek - (games two & three only), Amelia Kerr, Jess Kerr, Frances Mackay, Rosemary Mair, Katey Martin (wk), Hannah Rowe (game one only), Lea Tahuhu

The rankings

Australia sit seven points clear of second-ranked England at the top of the ICC's T20I rankings, a position they have maintained since 2018, while New Zealand are fourth, with India third.

Meg Lanning's team hold a mammoth 44-point lead over No.2 South Africa in the ODI charts, while New Zealand come in at No.5.

Last time the teams met on Australian soil last September and October, the Aussies claimed a 2-1 win in the T20Is and swept the ODIs 3-0.

Players to watch

Tayla Vlaeminck insists she has yet to hit full throttle in her return from a serious foot injury, as she aims to give the speed gun a workout against New Zealand.

The fast bowler returned to state cricket last month after a year-long layoff and quickly found her rhythm, picking up six wickets in four matches for Victoria including one ferocious spell that saw her bag 4-16 against the ACT Meteors.

But in an ominous sign for New Zealand's batters, Vlaeminck says she is still working her way back to the fiery pace she displayed in early 2020, prior to the devastating stress fracture to her navicular bone that ruled her out of the T20 World Cup.

Ellyse Perry will return to the Australia XI following the serious hamstring injury that prematurely ended her own World Cup campaign last March.

Perry also started to find her feet while playing for Victoria, and will particularly relish a return to the one-day format, where she is the world's top-ranked allrounder.

It goes without saying that leg-spin sensation Amelia Kerr and captain Sophie Devine are the key to New Zealand's hopes of upsetting Australia in both limited-overs formats.

Devine was below her usual belligerent best against England, scoring just 47 runs across six innings, but the powerful batter loves playing Australia and proved she was not losing her touch in January, when she hit a 36-ball century for Wellington.

Kerr has a habit of picking up big Australia scalps, while she will also take on more responsibility with the bat, having been promoted into the top four in both formats.

Young guns

Australia could field not one, but two express pace options if Darcie Brown is handed an international debut.

The 18-year-old was hitting speeds above 120kph during the WBBL and while she is young, her raw pace and bounce could cause some problems for the New Zealand batters. Given the ODI World Cup will be played in New Zealand in one year's time, selectors will also be keen to see what she can do in the local conditions.

For New Zealand, pace bowler Jess Kerr – the 23-year-old older sister of Amelia – made her presence felt in what was a tough series against England last month. Just 14 English wickets fell across three ODIs, but Kerr collected three of those at an average of 16, and maintained an impressed economy rate of 3.57.