Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to bowl Thursday in the first Test against New Zealand, on the green-tinged wicket at Dunedin's University Oval.

It was a good call for captain Angelo Mathews, who is nursing an inexperienced line-up, including debutant opener Udara Jayasundera.

The tourists suffered two setbacks this week, when leading bowler Dhammika Prasad's tour ended after he suffered a serious back injury during a warm-up match, while wicketkeeper Kusal Perera was sent home for failing a drugs test.

New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum said the top order batsmen "face a couple of hours of tough work", predicting the home side would need more than 350 in the first innings.

Despite recent Test losses in Australia, New Zealand are full of confidence as they return to familiar conditions at home, where Trent Boult and Tim Southee spearheaded a 2-0 triumph over Sri Lanka a year ago.

Top New Zealand batsman Kane Williamson has relished playing Sri Lanka, averaging 93.16 from 12 Tests against them, including an unbeaten 242 a year ago.

Only two of the six previous Tests at the Dunedin ground have produced a result, both in New Zealand's favour, with the others mainly rain-affected draws. Showers are forecast throughout this Test.

Teams

New Zealand: Martin Guptill, Tom Latham, Kane Williamson, Ross Taylor, Brendon McCullum (capt), Mitchell Santner, BJ Watling, Doug Bracewell, Neil Wagner, Tim Southee, Trent Boult.

Sri Lanka: Dimuth Karunaratne, Udara Jayasundera, Kithuruwan Vithanage, Dinesh Chandimal, Angelo Mathews (capt), Kusal Mendis, Milinda Siriwardana, Rangana Herath, Dushmantha Chameera, Suranga Lakmal, Nuwan Pradeep.

Umpires: Richard Kettleborough (ENG), Nigel Llong (ENG)

TV umpire: Paul Reiffel (AUS)

Match referee: David Boon (AUS)
Source: AFP