KEY POINTS:
The Black Caps' first warm-up match on the tour of South Africa at Bloemfontein was played in poor batting conditions. Sideways movement developed into variable bounce, scores were very low, and then came the predicable protestations about it being far from ideal preparation.
The team want to be
playing good, hard, test-style cricket, especially if they haven't had much of that lately, to prepare for the test the Proteas will present. It's a bit like playing rugby against Portugal before you play France.
However, following the first day's play in warm-up game two at Potchefstroom, the Black Caps should perhaps hope for conditions in the first test at least to be a little like those at Bloemfontein.
As a former batsman, I'm being hypocritical - because there's no way in hell I'd be hoping for anything less than benign batting conditions. But it's about winning and I believe the Black Caps have a better chance of beating South Africa in bowler-friendly conditions.
They came out on top quite comfortably in the low-scoring match but after putting South Africa A in to bat first in better conditions in game two, the Kiwi bowlers lacked penetration. Don't get me wrong, a hard workout for the bowlers and good runs for our batsmen are worthwhile and will go a long way to getting them up to speed.
It's just that, on current form, taking 20 wickets against South Africa in good conditions may be too difficult. I'm not talking about our form but about South Africa's.
South Africa come from wonderful test and ODI series victories in Pakistan. They've been playing some great cricket in conditions that can be very testing. Other than a twenty/20 tournament the Black Caps come from very little.
A little assistance would not go amiss for our bowlers who are 'early season' and John Bracewell has anticipated that by selecting a squad deep in seam bowlers. If Jacob Oram bats at six then Bracewell play four seamers and a spinner too.
Conditions that dictate 300 to be a good score also favour the make-up of the Black Caps. When the ball loses shine and hardness, the batsmen from seven down can be the difference in a series and New Zealand has depth here.
I could be looking at this from a very negative angle in assuming that South Africa need to be brought down to our level - but, realistically, can we expect our test team to be peaking right now?
I'm actually being hypocritical from more than just a batsman's angle too, as I've said in the past that New Zealand learn nothing from winning in seaming conditions. I stand by that.
But I'd also like to kick off the season in series-winning style.