Aussies set to ring changes as they secure flight home

Australia have secured a chartered flight home from Wellington immediately following Sunday's fifth and final T20 against New Zealand, allowing them to avoid hotel quarantine upon their arrival back in Australia.

Sunday's match has been moved forward from a 2pm AEDT start and will now commence at 10am AEDT (midday local time) to enable the Australians to catch a flight home later that day from Wellington to Sydney, meaning they won't have to transit through Auckland.

Auckland has been designated a "red zone" following a recent COVID-19 outbreak and all arrivals in Australia from that city are required to enter hotel quarantine for 14 days.

"The decision follows discussions between New Zealand Cricket and Cricket Australia and will allow the Australia squad to catch a charter flight home immediately after the game - and avoid having to transit through Auckland," New Zealand Cricket said in a statement.

While not travelling to Auckland means the Australians can enter most states without having to quarantine, the borders of Western Australia and Queensland are closed to all arrivals from New Zealand, not just those who have recently been in Auckland.

There are nine WA-based players in the Australian squad, who will need to stay on the east coast for two weeks before being able to return home without having to quarantine.

CA are working with individual players on their plans after they arrive in Sydney on Sunday. 

WA are currently scheduled to play a Marsh One-Day Cup game in Brisbane on March 11 which, given Queensland's current border restrictions, would need to be relocated if the WA players in the Australia squad are to play.

Speaking earlier on Tuesday, stand-in head coach Andrew McDonald said moving the final three games of the series to Wellington - the fourth game of the series was meant to be played in Auckland - was the logical decision.

"We feel for (those in Auckland) going back into lockdown and Eden Park is a great ground to play and it would have been a fantastic atmosphere, so probably a loss in terms of the big crowd," he said.

"In terms of us not having to quarantine on the way home in the current landscape is a huge positive."

Australia are set to make changes for the third game of the series on Wednesday as McDonald flagged a need to improve through the middle overs with the ball.

With Wellington's Sky Stadium to host the final three games of the series, starting with Wednesday night's clash, Australia could be set to turn to the likes of D'Arcy Short or Ashton Turner as they alter their starting XI for the first time this series.

In the firing line could be spinner Ashton Agar, who has gone wicketless, conceding 50 runs from only five overs bowled in the first two games in Christchurch and Dunedin, his first two games after a lengthy lay-off with a calf injury that saw him miss the entire KFC BBL campaign.

"We haven't got those middle overs right," McDonald said today.

"That may be a reason for us to reinforce that area or make some changes that potentially strengthen that area with both bat and ball."

In the 10-over stretch between overs seven and 16, New Zealand have outscored Australia by 19 runs in both matches, with the Black Caps only losing one wicket in each game, compared to Australia's five in each innings.

"They've played spin well at this stage," McDonald said of New Zealand's batters.

"Agar has played two games in the last three and a half months as well so he's going to be better every game that he plays.

"Zampa at this stage hasn't gotten into the games ... (but) his quality over the last two years which suggests that the next game he probably will have an impact."

"It is an area that we do need to improve in if we're going to compete and beat this Kiwi side."

Short or Tuner would strengthen Australia's batting while maintaining a spin option for captain Aaron Finch, while Jason Behrendorff, Andrew Tye and the uncapped Riley Meredith are also in the squad to add extra depth to the pace bowling.

Mitch Marsh is yet to bowl in the series after injuring himself in the latter stages of the BBL|10 season but had been targeting a return to the bowling crease in the back end of this T20 series.

"One thing we can control is the bowling, so we'll look at how we use our bowling through that phase of the game," McDonald said.

"We're clearly trying to be aggressive as a batting unit through that period anyway, so (any changes are) more about how we defend the New Zealand batters and what match-ups we use through that period of time to get the most improvement in our performance.

"We've got a big squad of 18 players here ... every player that came on this tour (is) a live chance."

With the Australians training at the Basin Reserve ground, they are yet to see the Sky Stadium surface where the next three T20s will be played. McDonald will join Finch and travelling selector George Bailey in visiting 'The Cake Tin' to make the line-up decisions on Tuesday evening.

McDonald was also keen to highlight the gains made by the Australians with an eye towards the T20 World Cup in India later this year, saying returning fast bowler Jhye Richardson had already shown enough to be "making a real case for a place in the starting XI come World Cup time".

Also catching the coach's eye was the second-game performance of Josh Philippe, and the middle-order batting of Marcus Stoinis and Daniel Sams in their record-breaking partnership.

Sams' batting was "giving us a look at a different type of player" added McDonald, making Australia ponder "could he potentially be a player that turns more into a batting allrounder?".

Qantas T20I tour of New Zealand 2021

Australia squad: Aaron Finch (c), Ashton Agar, Jason Behrendorff, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Ben McDermott, Riley Meredith, Josh Philippe, Jhye Richardson, Kane Richardson, Daniel Sams, Tanveer Sangha, D'Arcy Short, Marcus Stoinis, Ashton Turner, Andrew Tye, Matthew Wade, Adam Zampa.

New Zealand squad: Kane Williamson (c), Hamish Bennett, Trent Boult, Mark Chapman, Devon Conway, *Martin Guptill (pending fitness test), Kyle Jamieson, Jimmy Neesham, Glenn Phillips, Mitchell Santner, Tim Seifert (wk), Ish Sodhi, Tim Southee. *Finn Allen (on stand-by for Guptill)

1st T20: New Zealand won by 53 runs

2nd T20: New Zealand won by four runs

3rd T20: March 3, Sky Stadium, Wellington, 5pm AEDT

4th T20: March 5, Sky Stadium, Wellington, 5pm AEDT

5th T20: March 7, Sky Stadium, Wellington, 10am AEDT

All matches will be shown live in Australia on Fox Cricket and Kayo