WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — New Zealand won the toss and chose to bowl Wednesday in the third Twenty20 international against Australia which will be played without spectators at the 35,000-seat Sky Stadium.

Due to new COVID-19 outbreaks in New Zealand, Wellington is currently at alert level 2, which restricts public gatherings to 100 people.

New Zealand leads the five-match series 2-0 after winning the first match by 53 runs and the second by four runs. The fourth and fifth matches will also be played in Wellington on Friday and Sunday, respectively, after being moved from Auckland and Tauranga.

Australia named Tasmania right-arm fast bowler Riley Meredith to make his T20 international debut, replacing Daniel Sams.

New Zealand made one enforced change by naming Mark Chapman in place of Mitchell Santner, who is in isolation after suffering head cold symptoms.

___

Lineups:

New Zealand: Martin Guptill, Tim Seifert, Kane Williamson (captain), Devon Conway, Glenn Phillips, Jimmy Neesham, Mark Chapman, Kyle Jamieson, Tim Southee, Ish Sodhi, Trent Boult.

Australia: Aaron Finch (captain), Matthew Wade, Josh Philippe, Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Mitchell Marsh, Ashton Agar, Jhye Richardson, Kane Richardson, Adam Zampa, Riley Meredith.

Umpires: Wayne Knights and Chris Gaffaney, New Zealand.

Television umpire: Shaun Haig, New Zealand. Match referee: Jeff Crowe, New Zealand.

___

More AP sports: https://apnews.com/hub/apf-sports and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports