nzherald.co.nz has live scoring of the first test between the Black Caps and India from 11am today.
New Zealand's cricket captain has called for a blend of discipline and aggression from his team when the three-test series against India starts at Seddon Park today.
Containment is unlikely to bring a dividend. New Zealand must eyeball their high-calibre opposition from the start.
Captain Dan Vettori said his bowlers
had to be on the mark "from ball one" against India's highly regarded batting lineup and while he didn't necessarily expect his batsmen to follow the dashing approach of India's boom opener Virendar Sehwag, he believes they are in "a good space" going into the match.
New Zealand's solitary win in the final ODI at Eden Park last Saturday will help the mental state of mind of the players, but Vettori also noted that their best display of the series came on a pitch with some bounce and pace in it.
Therefore he sounded lukewarm on the state of the pitch for the test. It looked a good strip with plenty of runs in it, which is not quite the ringing endorsement it might sound.
"I think it is going to be a good batting wicket and we want something with pace in it that will suit us," Vettori said yesterday. "It will suit India as well but I don't think we are about doctoring wickets. We just want to push wickets we think we can play best on."
Vettori believes a flat pitch is "certainly an advantage to India".
"When you go to India you don't expect green seamers and when you come to New Zealand you don't expect flat, dry wickets."
The last time the teams met in Hamilton, the first three innings produced 11 scores in double figures as the Indians succumbed for the second consecutive time on pitches seamers dream of.
On that 2002 tour, India's batsmen looked as surefooted as drunks stepping into a canoe.
Vettori reckons the current team are the best Indian side to come here and with Sehwag in spanking form, and their three middle order musketeers, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar and V.V.S. Laxman - with a combined 388 tests having produced 80 hundreds - reunited, backed up by tidy opener Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh and captain M.S. Dhoni it is a formidable outfit.
"But we fancy ourselves in our own conditions. We will need a lot of guys from our team standing up, not just one or two."
Zaheer Khan and Ishant Sharma are no slugs if the pitch has some life in it and Harbhajan Singh against Vettori is a tasty spinners' head-to-head contest, so India might argue they have most bases covered.
New Zealand won't name their 11 until this morning but fast-medium newcomer Brent Arnel and offspinner Jeetan Patel are tipped to miss out.
Asked for a few thoughts yesterday, recalled seamer Chris Martin, through a New Zealand Cricket spokesman, preferred to focus on the job ahead. Certain conclusions could be drawn from this, the main one being the 34-year-old is expecting to mark out his runup in the next couple of days for his 46th test, aiming to add to his 146 wickets, not parking up on his couch at home.
Martin, Kyle Mills and James Franklin had a solid workout yesterday in the middle of the ground under the eyes of Vettori, coach Andy Moles and national selector John Wright. Martin enjoys strong support from his captain. Assuming he starts today, he must now repay Vettori's faith.
"I'm always a big fan of Chris, he's done a great job for New Zealand over a long period of time. I've been impressed with the way he has trained," Vettori said.
India's only decision appears to be over Munaf Patel or Lakshmipathy Balaji for the third seamer's job.
