Cricket: NZ hopes net result equals run of outings

County cricket should aid Kane Williamson in the West Indies.

An intriguing experiment beckons ahead of New Zealand's three-test, two-T20 international tour to the West Indies starting next month.

What constitutes the best build-up? A banquet of English county championship first-class games; a selection of Indian Premier League tapas; or a fast on competitive cricket with an intravenous drip of net sessions.

The instinctive reaction is to suggest Kane Williamson is preparing in the most methodical way through his Yorkshire contract. He's played two county championship matches, scoring 0, 57 not out and 3 in addition to 11 and 90 in a three-day practice match. Injury permitting, he'll play three more four-dayers and possibly a couple of cameos in the revamped NatWest T20 Blast. It's a gluttonous diet in the sport's best domestic showcase.

Dining from cricket's tapas menu are Corey Anderson, Brendon McCullum, Jimmy Neesham, Tim Southee and Ross Taylor as the IPL flits between the United Arab Emirates and India and struggles for sponsorship and ticketing revenue, courtesy of corruption allegations.

None of the footage from the early stages in the UAE before last night suggests the New Zealanders are having a major bearing on successful results.

McCullum's had the biggest impact with 71 not out off 53 balls to help Chennai beat Mumbai and 67 off 45 balls in the loss to Punjab.

Ross Taylor hit 43 off 39 balls for Delhi against Bangalore, followed by two failures.

Corey Anderson and Jimmy Neesham have had minimum all-round impact for Mumbai and Delhi respectively. Neesham top scored with 22 in his side's 93-run loss to Chennai, while Anderson made 39 off 31 balls in Mumbai's seven-wicket loss to the same opponent. Tim Southee's sole contribution was against Chennai with none for 27 and four runs in a losing Rajasthan cause.

Overall, the five New Zealanders have contributed 301 runs in 13 innings (McCullum's made 153 of them in four outings) and taken one wicket for 160 from 17 overs.

There are two advantages to the New Zealanders playing in the IPL. First, the wickets are similarly low and slow to those they will strike in the West Indies.

Compare that with Williamson batting on seaming pitches in England or the remainder of players at home making do with indoor nets in increasingly inclement weather.

Second, they are regularly playing West Indies test contenders such as Bangalore's Chris Gayle (due to play his 100th test against New Zealand at home in Jamaica), Kolkata's Sunil Narine, Hyderabad's Darren Sammy and Chennai's Dwayne Bravo (if he is reconsidered in the wake of the test series loss to New Zealand).

Twenty20 form offers a limited gauge to test prospects but there is potentially intelligence to be gleaned from net practices and social interaction as to what could be in store for New Zealand once the tour starts.

Contrary to the banquet and the tapas is the limited cricket experienced by the majority of the test squad since the Ford Trophy ended. Those players will predominantly rely on net and gym work to maintain their cricket fitness, although they do have two tour warm-up games.