KEY POINTS:
New Zealand have been invited to bat first in the opening one-day cricket international against Bangladesh at Mirpur today.
Bangladesh captain Mohammad Ashraful won the toss and opted to bowl in overcast conditions in the first game of a three-match series.
New Zealand will take only one spinner into the match after deciding to omit Jeetan Patel from their 12.
Bangladesh named middle order batsman Naeem Islam to make his debut.
The match is to start on schedule despite heavy overnight rain.
More showers are forecast for later today.
The second match is at the same venue on the outskirts of Dhaka on Saturday while the teams then move to Chittagong for the last match next Tuesday.
New Zealand: Daniel Vettori (captain), Mark Gillespie, Jamie How, Daniel Flynn, Brendon McCullum, Kyle Mills, Jacob Oram, Jesse Ryder, Tim Southee, Scott Styris, Ross Taylor.
Bangladesh: Mohammad Ashraful (captain), Mashrafe Mortaza, Tamim Iqbal, Shakib Al Hasan, Zunaed Siddique, Naeem Islam, Mushfiqur Rahim, Mahmud Ullah (Riadh), Abdur Razzak, Syed Rasel, Shahadat Hossain.
- NZPA
