New Zealand's stand-in captain Ross Taylor won the toss and elected to bowl in the third one-day cricket international against Pakistan on Saturday.

Taylor takes over from regular captain Daniel Vettori who is being rested while Kane Williamson and Kyle Mills rejoin the New Zealand side along with left-arm spinner Luke Woodcock who will make his one-day debut.

Pakistan named an unchanged team from the one chosen for the second match in Queenstown which was washed out.

New Zealand leads the six-match series 1-0 after winning the first match by nine wickets.

Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi said he also would have bowled first but was confident the pitch would be good.

"It's a good wicket for batting, maybe a little slow and it will also help the spinners as well," he said.