It may surprise you, but Tom Latham has never played in a Chapell-Hadlee encounter.
Despite debuting for the BLACKCAPS in 2012, the experienced left hand opener is yet to taste the fire and passion of the one day trans-tasman contest.
“I played in the Tests over here and that was pretty special, but to get a chance to play in the Chappell-Hadlee in Australia - it doesn’t get any better to be honest,” Latham said after the side’s first training in Sydney on Friday.
“You grow up watching Australia take on New Zealand and to hopefully get a chance to play in one of them is very exciting.”
The squad will train at he SCG one last time on Saturday afternoon before Sunday’s day night opener.
Despite Australia’s recent struggles, Latham wasn’t buying into any talk that the hosts are ripe for the picking.
“They’re the number one side in the world and that’s pretty hard to go past. They’ll be certainly coming out hard to try and win that trophy off us, so that’s an exciting challenge that we face and everyone’s looking forward to it.”
The BLACKCAPS ran out 2-1 victors in February’s series in New Zealand and Latham felt the side could take confidence from the result.
“We played some really good cricket in that last series and if we can play some more good cricket throughout these three matches then hopefully we can hold onto that trophy.”
