''We had two days and haven't gained a lot out of it from a preparation point of view, other than time on our feet," New Zealand coach Mike Hesson said.
Hesson said the pitch had no grass on it, was akin to rolled mud and once it baked large chunks came off -- ''like a jigsaw with about half the pieces missing''.
The last time New Zealand had a match abandoned was in Paarl, South Africa in December 1994 when a game against Boland was called off after one over on the second morning, by which time 23 wickets had fallen for 200 on a pitch which resembled corrugated iron.
New Zealand didn't bowl their seamers today for safety reasons as Aaron Finch and Ryan Carters plundered the fourth highest opening stand in first-class cricket.
Hesson said the pair had batted well over the first four hours of the match yesterday before the pitch became so poor that there was no point pushing on.
He said it was decided to wait overnight in the vain hope of any improvement.
''We saw last night when the new ball was taken it took some pretty good hunks out of the surface and when we turned up this morning the pitch had deteriorated further, so we decided in the best interests of player safety to bowl spinners," Hesson said.
He wasn't about to point fingers but admitted there was ''no doubt" New Zealand were disappointed at what CA had lined up for them as test preparation.
Hesson would not blame the ground staff, his information being it is hard to grow grass at this time of year on that pitch block. He equated the state of the pitch to ''the fourth day of a match in Abu Dhabi".
But he put a positive face on what the events of the last two days had done to New Zealand's preparations for what will be starkly different conditions next week.
''We'll be right. We know what we'll be confronted with, the nets will be similar to the (Gabba) surface and we'll prepare as best we can."
Meanwhile Queensland pair Joe Burns and Usman Khawaja have won the vacant batting spots in Australia's team for the first two tests against New Zealand.
Mitchell Marsh, despite an ordinary record, holds the allrounder's job, while the only bowling selection issue is over choosing either veteran Peter Siddle or the rising Josh Hazlewood.
Australian squad for the first two tests:
Steven Smith ©, David Warner, Joe Burns, Usman Khawaja, Adam Voges, Mitchell Marsh, Peter Nevill, Mitchell Johnson, Mitchell Starc, Peter Siddle, Josh Hazlewood, Nathan Lyon.
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