Star batter Steve Smith will continue to open the batting alongside Usman Khawaja as skipper Pat Cummins on Wednesday (February 28) announced Australia’s playing XI for the opening Test against New Zealand in Wellington.

Following the retirement of David Warner, Smith expressed his desire to open the batting in the longest format and his wish was granted by the team management in the two-Test series against the West Indies at home last month.

While Smith registered scores of 12, 11* and 6 in his first three innings, he returned with an unbeaten knock of 91 in the second innings of the Gabba Test to nearly take Australia over the line.

Cummins revealed that Australia would field an unchanged XI for the first Test against the Kiwis, starting on February 29, with both all-rounders Cameron Green and Mitch Marsh featuring in the line-up.

Meanwhile, Black Caps opener Devon Conway has been ruled out of the series opener with a thumb injury, New Zealand Cricket confirmed on the eve of the game.

Conway hurt his thumb in the third T20I against Australia in Auckland last Friday (February 23). The southpaw has been sidelined for the first Test after scans showed damage to his left thumb. Henry Nicholls has been called up as cover.

“It’s disappointing for Devon to be ruled out on the eve of an important match,” said New Zealand head coach Gary Stead.

“He’s a class player batting at the top of the order for us and I know he was really looking forward to this series.”

But Stead welcomed the return of Nicholls, who was not part of the squad initially.

“It’s nice to have a player of Henry’s calibre to call on. He has plenty of Test experience and covers a number of positions in our batting order,” Stead said.

Australia XI: Steve Smith, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Cameron Green, Travis Head, Mitch Marsh, Alex Carey (wk), Pat Cummins (c), Mitch Starc, Nathan Lyon and Josh Hazlewood