New Zealand win toss, opt to field against Scotland

New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum won the toss and elected to field in their cricket World Cup Pool A clash against Scotland in Dunedin on Tuesday.

The flat surface and the small boundaries at University Oval have resulted in high scoring matches, with New Zealand surpassing 300 in both of their games against Sri Lanka at the venue last month.

McCullum, however, said the pitch had typically been tricky in the early stages of the game and got better as the day wore on. "We think it's a good opportunity for our seamers to get into the game," McCullum said.

Coach Mike Hesson had said on Sunday some players were 'a bit sore' after their 98-run victory over Sri Lanka in the tournament opener but New Zealand named an unchanged side.

New Zealand have comfortably won both games they have played against Scotland, in Edinburgh in 1999 and Aberdeen in 2008, and are riding a wave of momentum from solid performances in January and their win over Sri Lanka on Saturday.

The Scots, however, are not to be taken lightly. The have a solid top order with England-born Matt Machan highly rated.

The 24-year-old Machan scored 103 against Ireland in a warmup game in Sydney just before the tournament started and 83 against a New Zealand XI that included several of the co-hosts World Cup squad members last October.

New Zealand: Brendon McCullum (captain), Martin Guptill, Kane Williamson, Ross Taylor, Grant Elliott, Corey Anderson, Luke Ronchi, Daniel Vettori, Tim Southee, Adam Milne, Trent Boult

Scotland: Kyle Coetzer, Alex McLeod, Hamish Gardiner, Matt Machan, Preston Mommsen (captain), Richie Berrington, Mathew Cross, John Davey, Rob Taylor, Majid Haq, Iain Wardlaw