Cricket: Braces' double surprise

New Zealand surprised twice before yesterday's match started by dropping Lou Vincent and choosing to bat first on winning the toss.

The decision to bat represented just the third time under coach John Bracewell that New Zealand had chosen to bat on winning the toss in New Zealand conditions, all coming at the Cake Tin.

They had previously beaten Pakistan and Sri Lanka here setting totals.

Vincent might have been surprised to find himself on the outer, even if the line-up had a slightly experimental look, with Brendon McCullum coming in at No 5, Peter Fulton at No 6 and Hamish Marshall at No 8.

It's a clear indication Bracewell intends trying a number of top-order combinations during the series.

New Zealand's big guns performed well, with Jamie How (66), Nathan Astle (90) and Stephen Fleming (55) all profiting. Fleming's form has been a bit scattergun recently but he has still managed 347 runs in his past 10 innings.

Vincent was not considered as a supersub either, with that role going to Wellington off-spinner Jeetan Patel, who performed so well here last time.

On Friday, there had been talk, mainly from New Zealand captain Fleming, about a gentlemen's agreement between the sides that would possibly see them name but not use the supersub, in effect just having a standard 12th man.

The reasoning was no doubt two-fold: Fleming has never hid his contempt for the rule and there hardly seemed much point in exposing the West Indies to it for the first time when the experiment is set to be abandoned next month.

The conversations obviously didn't advance far. Before the 30th over, Rawl Lewis was on for the ineffective Jerome Taylor, who went for 0-34 off five overs.

Mind you, it would be a stretch to apply the term super to describe substitute Lewis.

His test and one-day international career has so far been notable only for its ineffectiveness.

The wrist-spinner looked as surprised as the rest of us when he enticed an edge from McCullum's bat that was held by keeper Denesh Ramdin. Look at his stats and you'll see why.

That was just his 13th ODI wicket in his 17th appearance, each wicket costing close to 50 apiece. His run-rate per over of 5.2 does not suggest he is there for economy reasons either.

In tests, the figures are even starker. In his three tests, he has bowled 97.3 overs. Of those 585 balls, only one has been successful, when he snared South Africa's Mark Boucher seven years ago. That single strike has cost Lewis 318 runs.

You can see why, even after a couple of successful domestic campaigns, there was an element of surprise when he was chosen to tour.

- HERALD ON SUNDAY