Cricket: Spinners face plenty of work on tour

DHAKA - Daniel Vettori and Paul Wiseman can expect to become very familiar with their bowling run-ups on New Zealand's quickfire tour of Bangladesh.


The spin duo are set to play a major role on the flat and slow wickets while the team are based on the subcontinent for the next month for a warm-up game plus two tests and three one-day internationals.

Coach John Bracewell, the former off-spinner with 102 test scalps, signalled his intentions on arrival to use the foreign conditions to their advantage by employing his spinners.

Both are likely to feature in New Zealand's opening match - a three-day game against the Bangladesh Cricket Board X1 tomorrow at the BKSP Stadium in Savar - an hour's drive from Dhaka.

"The things that I've noticed every time we've toured India and Pakistan, and when I toured, is that you tend to want to bowl like the opposition," Bracewell said. "I think the best way is to play the way you want to bowl.

"We'll get Dan and Paul to keep throwing the ball up and try to get the opposition to use their feet and try to beat them in the air - that's where we bowl our best.

"We're not great spinners of the ball off the wicket. We don't have the doosra and all the things that come out of the Asian continent, but we do have guile and flight, and we do get our guys to drift the ball away or into the bat. That's what we will be encouraging them to do."

The warm-up match, against what is effectively the Bangladesh second X1, will give Bracewell the opportunity to trial another player after the BCB allowed the tourists to play a 12th man.

Without going into specifics, Bracewell said they were looking at an "extra player" as the Black Caps head into their solitary game before the first test starting on Tuesday.

Depending on conditions, Bracewell has the option of complementing his spinners with the swing bowling of Kyle Mills or James Franklin.

Their presence is also likely with humidity in the capital topping 80 per cent, while the mercury tips 33C.

As with any tour on the subcontinent, adjusting to the conditions quickly is crucial, and as skipper Stephen Fleming alluded to, coming from their camp in Christchurch on the tail of a cold winter was hardly ideal.

"Most of our preparation will be done over the next few days, so that makes the first game very important," Fleming said.

"I think we have to acknowledge the difference of conditions we usually play in and the adjustments we have to make, and that's our greatest challenge."


- NZPA