Washout doesn’t alter Kiwi thinking
WEATHER got the better of things in Christchurch on day one, with not a single ball bowled, but that doesn’t change New Zealand’s strategy according to batting coach Craig McMillan.
As long as weather permits, play will begin 30 minutes earlier for the remaining four days with 98 overs now scheduled for each day.
Neither side has named their team, and not even the toss was possible on Thursday. But with rain potentially making the Hagley Oval surface even more conducive to seam, McMillan sees no reason to change tactics.
The batting coach, who had been charged with getting the New Zealand top order’s confidence back following a hammering by India, said:“There’s not a lot of overs lost even though we lost the whole day today.We haven’t named our XI, and there are probably discussions on that tonight, but I don’t think too much has changed.
“I think it’s fair to say looking at that surface that the toss will be important. I think with the pitch being under cover today with the rain about, that first session tomorrow (Friday) is certainly going to be challenging.
“Hopefully, though, there’s enough movement for a couple of days, so that the team that wins the toss doesn’t have so big an advantage. I think there’s going to be enough for both teams in the first innings.
“These are conditions that we’ve been in quite a lot over the last few years.We’ve batted first on a number of pitches that looked very similar to the one out there, and we’ve done it well. It’s nothing new to us but we still know that we have to get things right against a very good Pakistan attack.”