Cricket: Sodhi in mix for series decider

Ish Sodhi
Ish Sodhi
Today's transtasman ODI series finale could pit legspinner against legspinner, after New Zealand added Ish Sodhi to their squad.

Allrounder Mitchell Santner, who starred with bat and ball in NZ's four-wicket loss at Wellington, has a sore foot so selectors have called in Sodhi as cover.

Santner faces a pre-match fitness test at Hamilton, where Australia are shooting for an eighth straight ODI series win.

Legspinner Adam Zampa impressed on international debut for Australia, taking two key wickets as the tourists squared the three-match ODI series.

Zampa didn't bowl to outgoing NZ skipper Brendon McCullum, who bludgeoned 28 runs off 12 balls, but welcomed the prospect.

"Luckily he was dismissed but I wouldn't be too fazed either way. If I get the opportunity against him next game then I'm happy to take it," Zampa said.

Zampa has become a fine legspinner in his own right but admits it wasn't so long ago that he was modelling himself on skipper Steve Smith.

"I played at the same club as Smithy in Sydney," Zampa said.

"I was three or four years younger than him when he started playing for Australia and I was just playing for NSW.

"It was always nice to be working with him, just batting and bowling. So I might have copied him here and there."

The series decider will double as McCullum's final ODI.

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