KEY POINTS:
The West Indies are looking forward to some friendly conditions to get in some batting practice when they face Auckland in a four-day cricket match starting tomorrow.
The fixture on the Eden Park Outer Oval will be the tourists' only build-up game before the first test against New
Zealand starting in Dunedin next Thursday.
Left-handed batsman Brendan Nash said he and his teammates had heard about the runfeast in the domestic State Championship match between Auckland and Wellington at the same venue last week.
After the first day was rained out, the remaining three days produced 974 runs for the loss of just 12 wickets.
"Obviously, judging from that game, it was quite a batter-friendly wicket," Nash said.
"With a flat outfield and shortish boundaries, that makes for high scoring."
Fresh from a 0-3 one-day series defeat to Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates, the West Indies have not played a test since they were beaten at home by Australia in mid-year.
Nash said the match against Auckland gave the tourists a much-needed opportunity to readjust to first-class cricket.
"We've been playing a lot of one-day cricket recently and we're taking this very seriously," he said.
"It's a good hit out. We are looking forward to the longer version of the game and adapting our skills to that."
Australian-born Nash, who turns 31 next week, is part of a West Indian squad featuring a mix of the familiar names with some lesser known ones.
He was a late debutant in the international arena, getting his limited overs call-up against Bermuda in August.
Since then, he has played a total of five one-dayers, with 39 not out against Canada being his top score.
Nash is one of four players in the tour party still to win their first test cap, along with fast bowlers Kemar Roach and Lionel Baker and batsman Leon Johnson.
However, Nash does have test experience, as a substitute fielder for Australia against, ironically, the West Indies in Brisbane three years ago.
While born in Western Australia and the possessor of an Australian accent, Nash is quick to point out that he was "conceived in Kingston".
His father, Paul, represented Jamaica as a swimmer at Olympic and Commonwealth Games level.
Nash had seven seasons in Australian domestic cricket with Queensland before being out of contract last year and deciding to try his hand in Jamaica.
Just 12 months later, after a strong first season in the Caribbean, he found himself called up by the West Indies selectors.
Nash said he believed he had been able to take some of the winning environment he experienced at Queensland to Jamaica.
"In my first season, we won two out of the three trophies there and we were in the final of the other, which we lost," he said.
"Hopefully, I've made a little impact there and I can also bring that to the West Indies."
Both the West Indies and Auckland teams are expected to be confirmed tomorrow.
Former test batsman Scott Styris is in doubt for Auckland because of a niggling back injury.
Styris is still a member of the New Zealand one-day squad and one factor in whether he will play this weekend is New Zealand's programme of two Twenty20 internationals and five one-dayers against the West Indies late this month and in January.
If Styris is rested to ensure he is right for international duty, replacement options include young left-handed batsman Jeet Raval, who has yet to make his first-class debut, and English professional Steve Croft.
- NZPA
