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“I really enjoyed it actually, with Marshy and Wadey taking up the reins I felt like I could just be a player,” Cummins said on Wednesday. “On the field, just worrying about your own skills solely, especially in a format that I haven’t played a lot for a while was good.

“Away from the ground just things like media or some of the team meetings you have around planning, they do add up. They’re not necessarily taxing by themselves but they do add up, so just having that space outside the game was nice for a couple of weeks, but in the same breath it’s good to be back here in a different role.

“Wadey and Marshy are both really good mates, so I’m there if they need me or want to lean or bounce an idea off me or whatever, but it was more of a mental refresh than anything else.”

The selection of an unchanged Australian side from the one surprisingly defeated by the West Indies at the Gabba was reflection of rare stability.

“The last couple of years have been quite successful with these guys and also the other guys that are travelling with us,” Cummins said. “They’ve all had a bit of exposure as well, so we feel like even if anything happened we’re pretty well-placed to bring one of those guys in. There’s a real calmness around the group, everyone’s played enough Test cricket, so it doesn’t feel like we need to reinvent the wheel.”

Conway, meanwhile, joined pace bowling spearhead Jamieson on the sidelines because the thumb injury he picked up during the T20 series failed to recover in time.

Conway saw a specialist in Wellington on Tuesday and was ruled out as a result of that consultation, after previously contemplating the possibility of batting with a thumb guard. His availability for the second Test in Christchurch will be determined in coming days.

Will Young will open alongside Tom Latham in place of Conway, who has been among the world’s leading top-order players over the past four years. Jamieson had previously been ruled out due to a back stress fracture, while Wagner retired after being told he would not be considered for the series by selectors.

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New Zealand’s captain Tim Southee said the final spot in the team would likely be taken by either spin bowler Mitchell Santner or seam bowler Scott Kuggeleijn, who is yet to play a game against Australia in any format.

New Zealand cricket has been subjected to criticism for selecting Kuggeleijn, after he was twice tried for rape in 2016 and 2017. After the first trial returned a hung jury, the second found him not guilty. Protest banners were displayed at a game Kuggeleijn played for the Black Caps at Eden Park in Auckland in 2019.

“That’s not my job, I guess, to do that,” NZ coach Gary Stead said when asked about the moral dimensions of selection when Kuggeleijn played against England last year.

“I get given the players I can choose from and we have gone with a resilient character, from a bowling point of view, and he is a guy when you lose two key bowlers, you look around and ask who are the guys who can a job for us internationally and he is one who can.”