The omission of spinner O'Keefe from Australia's squad, reducing it from 13 to 12, was announced on Thursday by captain Steve Smith before the team's final training session. Smith said the generous cover of grass on the Adelaide Oval pitch – this has seemingly been done to help preserve the pink ball – had put paid to their consideration of playing two spinners against the Black Caps.

"It was considered obviously, as he [O'Keefe] was here to train with us. He's done incredibly well with the pink ball and we thought he might have played a part, but it's not going to end up that way. We're going to go in with three quicks and an all-rounder," the captain said.

"There's probably a little bit more grass than I anticipated to be on it. That added bit of grass probably swayed our decision."

O'Keefe will fly home to Sydney on Thursday so he can play in NSW's Sheffield Shield match Queensland, starting on Friday at the SCG.

With Peter Siddle favoured to take the berth left by the retirement of Mitch Johnson, the final place in the Australian team is expected to be filled by either Josh Hazlewood, who played the first two Tests but is the subject of concerns about his workload, and James Pattinson.

Smith, who shared Cricket Australia's concern about Hazlewood's workload in the lead-up to the second Test in Perth, said the 24-year-old had "bowled beautifully" in the past two training sessions, which he took as a sign he had benefited from the break between the Perth and Adelaide Tests.

"The guys have had a good bowl over the past couple of days. Rodney [Marsh, chief selector] was going to come down and have a look at this wicket again today. We're going to decide from there," Smith said.

"It's nice to have some fresh bowlers in, with obviously Peter Siddle and James Pattinson who haven't played as much cricket as Josh has lately. It's nice to have a few fresh faces in and ready to go. We'll wait and see how we go with the final XI from there."

The other team news from Smith was confirmation he would stay at No.3 in the absence of Usman Khawaja, who is sidelined with a hamstring strain. Adam Voges will bat at No.4, as he did at the WACA Ground, with replacement batsman Shaun Marsh at No.5.

Black Caps captain Brendon McCullum said no decision had been made on the availability of Trent Boult, who has been hampered by a back ailment. He did, however, suggest the left-armer was on track to play, pending confirmation he was not hampered by having bowled at full intensity in Wednesday's training session.

"Trent bowled yesterday in the nets. I thought he bowled with good pace as well. Certainly saw a couple of bouncers in there as well, just like all the other bowlers did last night," McCullum said. "If he's pulled up well today then we'll obviously see how he goes tonight and then we'll be able to name a team later on."

Even if Boult retains his place McCullum said they were likely to make a change. The two players under consideration are left-armer seamer Neil Wagner, who impressed in a practice match last weekend in Perth, and all-rounder Mitchell Santner, who bowls left-arm finger-spin.

"We've got some considerations in terms of the wicket, and just a couple of slightly different quirks with the game obviously being played a bit later [than normal]," McCullum said.

"I think there'll probably be some changes. It's just a matter of trying to work out what the best balance is heading into this Test match."

AUSTRALIA (from): Joe Burns, David Warner, Steve Smith (c), Adam Voges, Shaun Marsh, Mitch Marsh, Peter Nevill, Mitch Starc, Peter Siddle, Josh Hazlewood, James Pattinson, Nathan Lyon.

NEW ZEALAND (from): Tom Latham, Martin Guptill, Kane Williamson, Ross Taylor, Brendon McCullum (c), B.J. Watling, Mark Craig, Doug Bracewell, Tim Southee, Trent Boult, Matt Henry, Neil Wagner, Mitchell Santner.