
Southlander Jacob Duffy will fly the flag for the region.
The ICC No 1-ranked T20 international bowler is the only Otago player in the 14-strong squad.
Volts all-rounder Glenn Phillips (groin) joins Finn Allen (foot), Adam Milne (ankle), Will O’Rourke (back), Lockie Ferguson (hamstring) and white-ball captain Mitchell Santner on the sideline.
Santner was ruled out of the series following abdominal surgery and will instead target England’s white-ball tour later in the month.
Star batter Kane Williamson has made himself unavailable for the Australia series.
Michael Bracewell will lead the team in his absence.
The loss of Ferguson and O’Rourke is a blow but Sears and Jamieson are good like-for-like replacements.
Jamieson skipped the series in Zimbabwe but joins in-form seamers Matt Henry and Jacob Duffy, Canterbury’s Zak Foulkes and Sears, who missed the tour of Zimbabwe with a side injury, in a quality seam attack.
Hard-hitting right-hander Bevon Jacobs has retained his spot. The 23-year-old impressed with an undefeated 44 off 30 balls against South Africa on his international debut.
Devon Conway will open alongside Tim Seifert, who smashed the fastest century in the history of the Caribbean Premier League for the St Lucia Kings earlier this month.
Tim Robinson retains his batting spot after a player-of-the-match performance against South Africa in the tri-series, while Ish Sodhi snares the specialist spinner role, after claiming six wickets across his two T20Is in Zimbabwe.
Sodhi is just the third men’s player to capture 150 T20 international wickets.
He trails New Zealand’s Tim Southee (164 wickets) and Afghanistan’s Rashid Khan (171 wickets).
Bracewell, who started his career with Otago as a top-order batter before shifting to Wellington and reinventing himself as an all-rounder, said he grew up watching the Chappell-Hadlee rivalry.
"Since 2016 it [the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy] hasn’t been with us, and that’s something we want to change," he said.
‘‘Having the opportunity to fight for that on home soil is pretty special.
"Australia has been playing some really good cricket of late, and so have we, so it should make for an amazing series and a great occasion to be a part of."
Black Caps
T20 squad
Michael Bracewell (captain), Mark Chapman, Devon Conway, Jacob Duffy, Zak Foulkes, Matt Henry, Bevon Jacobs, Kyle Jamieson, Daryl Mitchell, Rachin Ravindra, Tim Robinson, Ben Sears, Tim Seifert, Ish Sodhi. — Allied Media