Kiwis tapping into inside T20 knowledge

New Zealand captain Kane Williamson will rely on his team's inside Twenty20 knowledge of Australia's individual players to try and claim their first win this side of the Tasman in more than six years.

The Black Caps have faced Australia just six times in the Twenty20 format – and only once since 2010.

But that is of little concern to Williamson ahead of Saturday's tri-series opener against Australia at the SCG given the many global Twenty20 leagues.

"Nowadays so many guys are playing with and against each other in overseas type roles, so you do tend to spend a lot of time together," he said.

"There's an element to it that you do know a lot of overseas players and you've spent a lot of time with them.

"When it's on the park you try and put that to one side and use it if you can. But when you're in the moment things change all the time and you have to adapt quickly."

Williamson himself has been led by opposing captain David Warner at Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Indian Premier League, while the majority of his senior players have played with or against 10 members of the Australian squad.

"He's ultra-positive," Williamson said of his experiences with Warner. "I have no doubt in this game he will be encouraging aggressive cricket, positive cricket, which is the brand he plays himself."

Paceman Tim Southee said while he hadn't personally tapped into the inside knowledge of Kiwi legends Brendon McCullum and coach Daniel Vettori, who are captain and coach of the Brisbane Heat respectively, and have played and coached with and against Australians in the IPL, those avenues were certainly ones that would have been explored.

"I'm sure there might have been a few conversations had in trying to get as much information as we can from the guys who are involved in the IPL," Southee said.

"Obviously Dan as well, coached one of the (BBL) sides. It's on TV back home and guys enjoy watching it so they would have seen enough of it through the Big Bash competition.

"I think it'd be silly not to tap into their information they’ve got."

New Zealand haven't won a match in Australia of any format since the Hobart Test of 2011, however in the time since they have become one of the best T20 sides in the world.

Colin Munro, who is the only man to have scored three international T20 centuries and averages a boundary more than once every five balls, is expected to return from a minor hamstring injury for the clash.

They'll also have left-arm orthodox spinner Mitchell Santner and leg-spinner Ish Sodhi at their disposal, ranked No.1 and No.3 respectively in the world as T20 bowlers.

Wins in their first two matches against Australia and England will also elevate them back to the No.1 ranked team in the world, after they relinquished the title to Pakistan in a home series loss to them last month.

But Williamson said that wouldn't be motivating his team heading into the series opener.

"The rankings kind of just happen, and it's not a focus for us," he said.

Gillette T20 trans-Tasman Tri-Series

Australia squad: David Warner (c), Aaron Finch (vc), Ashton Agar, Alex Carey, Ben Dwarshuis, Travis Head, Chris Lynn, Glenn Maxwell, Kane Richardson, D'Arcy Short, Billy Stanlake, Marcus Stoinis, Andrew Tye, Adam Zampa.

England squad: Eoin Morgan (c), Sam Billings, Jos Buttler, Sam Curran, Tom Curran, Liam Dawson, Alex Hales, Chris Jordan, Dawid Malan, Liam Plunkett, Adil Rashid, Jason Roy, Ben Stokes, James Vince, David Willey, Mark Wood.

New Zealand squad: Kane Williamson (c), Tom Blundell, Trent Boult, Tom Bruce, Colin de Grandhomme, Martin Guptill, Anaru Kitchen, Colin Munro, Seth Rance, Mitchell Santner, Ish Sodhi, Tim Southee, Ross Taylor, Ben Wheeler. 

PM's XI v England Manuka Oval, February 2. Tickets

First T20I Australia v NZ, SCG, February 3. Tickets

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