KEY POINTS:
Reading a 20-metre strip of St Lucia clay is shaping as New Zealand's biggest challenge before tomorrow morning's World Cup Group C stoush against England.
Initially expected to favour the sides bowling first, the Beausejour Stadium pitch at St George's was last night the subject of a painstaking investigation as New Zealand began to fret about the possible dangers of batting last.
The issue has rekindled memories of the tactical blunder at the start of the previous World Cup, when the Denis Aberhart-coached side misread conditions so badly they virtually handed their first game to Sri Lanka.
Their options today could hardly be more contrasting.
If skipper Stephen Fleming decides the pitch will become increasingly lethargic as the day progresses he'll almost certainly hope to bat first; if he believes the early morning conditions will be overly bowler-friendly, he'll probably want to chase.
Already at the front of his mind is the tournament opener at Sabina Park on Wednesday, when the West Indies posted 241 batting first before suffocating the Pakistan batsmen on a pitch of pedestrian pace.
"My gut feeling is that setting a score might be the way to go," he said before practice yesterday.
"We saw the West Indies strangle Pakistan, and we're thinking that if the pitch is going to get lower and slower throughout the day, batting first might be an advantage.
"My instincts are that if it's slow, it'll only get slower. But the St Lucia pitch is supposed to be one of the better prepared wickets in the West Indies, so we'll check it out on match day before making a decision."
New Zealand had scouts at yesterday's Group C opener between Kenya and Canada, and were preparing to examine film on computer last night in an effort to get the most effective strategy.
Both teams are well equipped to exploit a dying surface in the second half of the game.
England will almost certainly include left-armer Monty Panesar and off-spinner Jamie Dalrymple in their XI, and New Zealand are equally likely to team Daniel Vettori with his Wellington understudy Jeetan Patel.
"Today was pretty important in terms of assessing the conditions that we're going to be playing in," said Fleming.
"The coaching staff have been down there and we've got it on computer so we'll be poring over that tonight.
"It's going to be tricky. It's not just whether it's slow, it's also about how much turn it's going to take, given the quality of spin bowling in each camp. We've got to be wary of that."
Whatever New Zealand decide overnight could also dictate the final composition of their line-up, and whether they decide to carry both of their batting all-rounders - Craig McMillan and Scott Styris.
McMillan was last night in an injury scare after being hit on the toe by a Shane Bond yorker during a training session, and there are concerns over the ability of batsman Peter Fulton to overcome the effects of a fractured finger in his left hand.
But if both are available, the selectors will have three players - including Styris - effectively vying for two positions.
"Whether we can fit them both [Styris and McMillan] in I'm not sure, remembering there's two spinners as well," Fleming said.
"We're getting a bit of a log-jam and we've got to work out who's going to be the most effective. It may not be the second spinner, it may be the guys who just roll their fingers down the side of the ball. So tactically, we've got a decision to make on that."
England skipper Michael Vaughan had earlier described the Group C match as an even contest, and Fleming agreed - to a point.
"We've both got good left-arm spinners, and we've both got quality all-rounders so yeah - it is pretty similar.
"But one thing we've got is a lot of ODI experience. I know the English guys have played a lot of domestic county cricket, but at international level I think we've got them covered.
"It's a big game first up. We're desperate to win and set a standard for the tournament. We've pretty much got to beat everyone at some stage to win, so if we beat England now it's going to help in the long run."
