Southee declared fit for SA ODIs

Tim Southee has been declared fit for the ODI series against South Africa after missing the warm-up game due to a sore shoulder. New Zealand have also added batsmen Dean Brownlie and Tom Latham to their squad of 14 for the first match of the series.

Latham and Brownlie, who are both making a return to the ODI squad, were included to make up for the losses of Ross Taylor, who is out of the series with a calf injury and Kane Williamson, who will miss the first match because of a problem with his wrist.

"Tom had a very good tour to the West Indies with the Test team and also impressed in the warm-up match in Lincoln, while Dean was in strong form on the recent NZ A tour to the UK," Mike Hesson, the New Zealand coach, said.

Brownlie, 30, played the last of his three ODIs in July 2012 while Latham, 22, has not featured in the ODI side since New Zealand's tour of Sri Lanka last year.

Mount Maunganui, which is hosting the first two ODIs, will debut as an international venue. The third ODI of the series will be played at Seddon Park in Hamilton. It's the earliest start to an international series in the history of New Zealand cricket and Hesson said that the spring conditions will present a challenge.

"We've never played international cricket this early in the season so the conditions will be challenging and it's hard to know how the new ground at Bay Oval will shape up," he said. "But both teams will be hungry to get their Cricket World Cup preparations off to a good start."

New Zealand squad, 1st ODI: Brendon McCullum (capt), Corey Anderson, Trent Boult, Dean Brownlie, Martin Guptill, Matt Henry, Tom Latham, Mitchell McClenaghan, Nathan McCullum, Kyle Mills, James Neesham, Luke Ronchi, Tim Southee, Daniel Vettori