By RICHARD BOOCK
WELLINGTON - Steve Waugh has seen a few things in his time, but even he was taken aback yesterday by an exotic yellow pitch for the second cricket test against New Zealand.
The Australian captain was left baffled by the Basin Reserve's canary-coloured surface, appar-ently the result of extensive covering and little sun, and immediately began reassessing the claims of seam bowler Damien Fleming for the test match starting this morning.
After winning the first test in Auckland, the tourists had been leaning heavily towards fielding an unchanged line-up for the second, with Colin Miller expected to bowl seam up in the opening stanzas, before providing a second spin option later in the game.
However, Australia had not bargained on discovering a yellow-top at the Basin and may be tempted to include Fleming if the wicket still appears sporting when they arrive at the ground this morning.
Waugh, on track to lead his side to a national record ninth straight test win - breaking the 1921-22 team's 79-year-old mark - said the mystery surface had created something of a dilemma in his mind, and a question mark over the composition of the attack.
"It's difficult," he said. "I haven't seen too many yellow wickets before, so I'm not sure about the toss or the final playing eleven. It's hard to change a winning side, but we'll have another look at it tomorrow, and if need be, we will change it."
If Fleming does receive the nod, it will again highlight the difficulties Miller has in retaining his place in the Australian side, despite emerging as their best bowler in his past two tests - against Zimbabwe last year, and against New Zealand at Eden Park.
The problem for Miller, already with 37 wickets from just 12 tests, is that he was considered surplus to requirements for six tests in between his past two appearances, and could again be facing the chop after taking a five-wicket bag in his last outing.
Waugh said while Australia had achieved their goal in winning the first test, there was still a need for significant improvement if they were to win the second, particu-larly in regard to the side's batting line-up.
"I don't think we played very well in the last test," he said. "We've talked about it as a batting group and hopefully you'll see an improvement here in Wellington, because I don't think we really played test match cricket at Eden Park.
"We've talked about responsi-bility and respecting our wickets a bit more and we're far more aware of how we should be playing. From my own point of view, I don't think I was thinking in terms of test cricket when I was batting - and we can all improve on that."
Australia have triumphed only once at the Basin Reserve in six contests, and that was 56 years ago when they bowled New Zealand out for 42 and 54.
New Zealand skipper Steve Fleming, who hinted the hosts would almost certainly play left-arm swing-bowler Shayne O'Connor today at the expense of off-spinner Paul Wiseman, said his side were well aware of their success-rate at the Basin.
"We've played well on this ground before, we've got good memories here, and we're keen to protect our record against Australia. Having said that, we need to make a good start with either the bat or ball and grab some sort of initiative, because we never really got ahead in Auckland."
New Zealand: Stephen Fleming (captain), Craig Spearman, Matt Horne, Mathew Sinclair, Nathan Astle, Craig McMillan, Chris Cairns, Adam Parore, Daniel Vettori, Simon Doull, Shayne O'Connor, Paul Wiseman.
Australia: Steve Waugh (captain), Michael Slater, Greg Blewett, Justin Langer, Mark Waugh, Damien Martyn, Adam Gilchrist, Shane Warne, Brett Lee, Damien Fleming, Glenn McGrath, Colin Miller.
Cricket: Waugh in quandary over sunless pitch
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