A win would put New Zealand firmly into fourth place in world rankings while Sri Lanka would drop out of the all important top six teams guaranteed direct entry into the Champions Trophy tournament later in the year.

New Zealand lead the five-match series against Sri Lanka 2-0 and relish the opportunity to return to the Jade wicket where just three weeks ago they produced a world-record run chase of 332 to beat Australia.

In their last 12 matches on the ground, New Zealand have won nine including the last five when in their favoured position of batting second.

Black Caps skipper Daniel Vettori said they would like to bat second again on Tuesday after easily topping Sri Lanka's paltry 164 with seven wickets remaining in the opening match of the revived series played in Queens-town on Saturday.

The series is a continuation of the abandoned tour from last year when New Zealand led 1-0 before the Boxing Day tsunami hit Asia, including Sri Lanka.

New Zealand have kept an unchanged squad from Queenstown, and the Jade Stadium wicket is expected to provide another batting bonanza.

TEAMS
NEW ZEALAND (from): Daniel Vettori (captain), Jamie How, Lou Vincent, Peter Fulton, Hamish Marshall, Scott Styris, Chris Cairns, Jacob Oram, Brendon McCullum, James Franklin, Kyle Mills, Shane Bond, Nathan Astle.

SRI LANKA (from): Marvan Atapattu (captain), Sanath Jayasuriya, Mahela Jayawardene, Kumar Sangakkara, Tiilakaratne Dilshan, Upul Tharanag, Farveez Maharoof, Russel Arnold, Malinga Bandara, Muttiah Muralitharan, Avishka Gunawardene, Lasith Malinga, Chaminda Vaas, Jehan Mubarak, Ruchira Perera, Dilhara Fernando.