Cricket: Flat Brisbane pitch poses bowling conundrum

Ross Taylor. Photo / Christine Cornege

There was a faint whiff of Eau de John-Bracewell in the air at Auckland Airport as New Zealand departed for their two-test tour of Australia.

The former coach, whose nephew Doug was on flight NZ729 to Brisbane yesterday, treated tours to Australia as exercises in conspiracy theory and amateur psychology. Neither attempt, in 2004 and 2008, was successful - four tests, four huge losses - but it was entertaining.

If the Gabba groundsman, Kevin Mitchell, wasn't watering the pitch during a test, then he was swapping it. Brett Lee was bowling deliberate beamers and Shaun Tait might or might not have been throwing.

Bracewell also claimed Australia lost more than they won if you could get them into the fifth day, a remarkable statistic diluted only by the fact it was palpably untrue.

There was nothing quite as startling yesterday, but Ross Taylor did have one little pearl.

The skipper believes they are playing Australia 'A' at Allan Border Field, starting on Thursday, for a good reason.

"The wicket is very flat and Australia put a lot of touring teams there to tire the bowlers out," he said. "So we'll be going there to conserve the bowlers' energy as much as possible."

That'll teach them.

Just who those bowlers will be remains to be seen, though left-armer Trent Boult, who is trying to muscle his way into test consideration, is certain to be one.

The make-up of the seam bowling is the only point of contention heading into the first test.

"There's probably going to be the talking point of whether we go in with four quicks, or three quicks and Dan batting at No 6," Taylor said.

"Trent Boult has had an outstanding start to the season. He's been to Australia before and not played so I'm sure he's hurting a little bit there ... [but] even if he bowls well, he still might not make the [test] team. We'll just have to wait and see."

It would be a no-brainer to carry just three seamers if Jesse Ryder was fit enough to bowl. With new rules dictating no use of runners, John Wright has said Ryder will play as a batsman only to mitigate against injury.

Taylor admitted that dramatically altered the balance of the side.

While he contemplates whether to play Boult or Bracewell, or both, Australia have seamer issues as well, with Ryan Harris and Shane Watson carrying injuries.

Unfortunately for New Zealand, Pat Cummins looks as fit as a fiddle. The teenage sensation took six wickets in an innings for Australia against South Africa in the final test of the series that ended overnight.

"We're going to get some video footage to watch over the next week or so, so we'll be ready for him," opener Martin Guptill said. "He looks pretty quick, but we'll put some plans in place to counter that."

So far they've restricted themselves to facing tennis balls fired from a bowling machine at 160km/h. No matter how fast you set the machine, there's always the knowledge that tennis balls can't maim you.

Taylor said they would have loved to have seen more of Cummins, but "I'm a bit disappointed in Sky for not showing [the series].

"It'll be good ... to do some more scouting because there's only so much you can do on Cricinfo."