LONDON : Australa won the toss and elected to field in their winner-takes-all ICC Champions Trophy Pool A match against New Zealand here at the Oval.
Australia made one change to the side that beat the United States on Monday with fast bowler Shane Watson coming in for Brett Lee, meaning they stay with their policy of playing four pace-men.
New Zealand also made one change from their opening fixture, with Kyle Mills replacing Daryl Tuffey.
The winner of the match goes through to the semi-finals of the competition with the losers on an early plane out of England.
Australia come into the match in good heart having beaten the New Zealanders in their last six one-day internationals.
The New Zealanders are also missing the fire-power of Shane Bond who is out for a year with back trouble. He has a good record against the Australians having dismissed Ricky Ponting every time he has faced him in a one-dayer.
The widely anticipated match marks the end of the phoney war in this competition as the favoured sides play each other over the next four days.
On Friday England play Sri Lanka, on Saturday the West Indies play South Africa and on Sunday Pakistan face India.
The majority of the games so far have been played in front of sparse crowds but here at the Oval thousands of ex-pat Australians and New Zealanders were flocking through the gates before play started.