Unless South African skipper AB de Villiers is a man of a thousand faces, the news clearly surprised him yesterday when he was told at a press conference.
"He's opening the batting? Fantastic, thank you for that," was the champion batsman's lighthearted response.
"Wherever he plays in the lineup we'll respect the fact he's a good player - and try and exploit a couple of weaknesses," the world's No 1-ranked ODI batsman added mischievously.
Kiwi skipper Brendon McCullum, who bats at No 4 today, said it was too early to think of Neesham as a long term opening option, but it's a situation that needs resolving in the coming weeks.
"Until you put people in those positions you're not 100 per cent [sure] how they'll respond," McCullum said. "If we can get a destructive player at the top of the order playing with freedom then it really goes a long way with assisting us with the rest of the lineup."
An unusually early start for international cricket in New Zealand means among the fascinations of this series will be how quickly the home players hit their stride.
South Africa, by contrast, are just off a tri-series in Zimbabwe, in which they played strong cricket against their neighbours and Australia.
NZ beat the South Africans the last time they met in an ODI series, early last year.
All minds are on the World Cup starting in February; all actions, selections, performances will be put in the mixer, for both teams.
NZ have 14 ODIs after this rubber before the immediate lead-in to the cup. South Africa have 10 - five in Australia, five at home to the West Indies, but given the Windies players went on strike last week in India, they might be holding their breath over that series.
Dean Brownlie gets his chance at No 3 today, in the absence of Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor with wrist and calf injuries, and Tom Latham at No 5, but will get his chance up at the top later in the series.
NZ are expected to leave out at least one of their quartet of fast-medium bowlers in the 13 and possibly a spinner for today. If he makes the XI, it will be Dan Vettori's first national outing since July last year.
NZ v S Africa
New Zealand v South Africa, Blake Park, Mt Maunganui, 1st ODI, 10.30am today
New Zealand:
(from) Brendon McCullum (c), Martin Guptill, Jimmy Neesham, Dean Brownlie, Tom Latham, Corey Anderson, Luke Ronchi, Dan Vettori, Nathan McCullum, Kyle Mills, Trent Boult, Matt Henry, Mitchell McClenaghan.
South Africa:
(from) AB de Villiers (c), Hashim Amla, Quinton de Kock, Faf du Plessis, JP Duminy, David Miller, Ryan McLaren, Rilee Rossouw, Dale Steyn, Vernon Philander, Morne Morkel, Kyle Abbott, Imran Tahir, Aaron Phangiso, Wayne Parnell.
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