New Zealand skipper Daniel Vettori and coach John Wright have defended the decision to leave Kyle Mills and Jacob Oram on the sidelines during Friday's defeat to Australia in their World Cup Group A match.
Mills and Oram were overlooked, as the Black Caps team management opted for Jamie How and Hamish Bennett.
"We wanted to strengthen our batting because we knew Australia would come at us with pace on a number of fronts," Stuff.co.nz quoted Vettori, as saying about How's inclusion.
"Particularly around that secondary ball, we thought it would be nice to have a guy who can play pace well and Jamie is a very good player of pace to counter that. But it didn't work, did it?"
Meanwhile, Wright said that both Mills and Oram were sidelined due to form rather than injury.
"Bennett and [Tim] Southee did well in our first game. Kyle's back to full fitness. He's trained well the last two days, but we felt that the two pace bowlers and two spinners against Australia was the right option so he'll get his opportunity in the next game," Wright said.
New Zealand will now face Zimbabwe in Ahmedabad on March 4.
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