Nzramps up nets intensity
‘‘Now we know the challenge, the intensity and attitude we bring to training has to be as close to a match as possible. It’s very hard to imagine facing Steyn and Morkel and Philander in the nets but as a group of bowlers we’re trying to lift the ante aga
After the Groundhog Days of posttest Cape Town, the long road to the second test begins with a new city, conditions more like home and a New Zealand team who believe they are mentally tougher for their Newlands cricketing lesson.
The Black Caps take the 70-minute flight to Port Elizabeth tonight to begin three days of buildup to Friday’s second test against South Africa, having picked over the carcass of ‘‘that 45’’ which led to an innings and 27-run defeat.
Recent days in Cape Town mimicked what would have been days four and five of the test. Coach Mike Hesson and captain Brendon McCullum demanded intense net sessions and got them, with the test pacemen and willing contenders Neil Wagner and Mitchell McClenaghan charging in and peppering the batsmen.
Hesson suggested his charges may not have been mentally ready for the bombardment that awaited them on day one at Newlands.
And senior paceman Chris Martin, who joined in the fun in the nets with fellow quicks Trent Boult, Doug Bracewell and James Franklin, felt this was what they needed.
‘‘Now we know the challenge, the intensity and attitude we bring to training has to be as close to a match as possible,’’ Martin said.
‘‘It’s very hard to imagine facing Steyn and Morkel and Philander in the nets but as a group of bowlers we’re trying to lift the ante against our batters to make them get what they need out of training with a little bit more hostility and aggression.
‘‘Overall you can walk away from a training, if you’ve trained like that, and feel more ready to deal with the fight.’’
The batting top six will not change, while on evidence of training the four pacemen will remain, although a fired-up Wagner, who generated sharp pace in the nets, is pushing hard. Left-arm spinner Bruce Martin is the most likely to come in, for Jeetan Patel who has struggled to make an impact and started backing away to square leg, which will not impress the selectors.
After two days in the nets, the Black Caps had their originally scheduled post-test rest day. McCullum, Patel and Bruce Martin teed up in Jacques Kallis’ charity golf tournament while others were more adventurous.
Chris Martin, Dean Brownlie, Martin Guptill, Franklin and McClenaghan were scheduled to get up close and personal with great white sharks from behind a cage on a guided diving tour.
The team will arrive to temperatures a few degrees lower, in a city with a pleasant sea breeze and the beachfront feel of a New Zealand coastal town.
New Zealand beat South Africa in a test here, in 1962, but their visit in 2000 resulted in a sevenwicket defeat. That was South Africa’s most recent test win in Port Elizabeth; in four subsequent matches they have drawn one, then suffered defeats to England (2004), Pakistan and West Indies (both in 2007).
Martin expects conditions to be more New Zealand-like, but potentially tougher for the pacemen than the bouncy Cape Town surface.
‘‘I’ve played one game there and it was on my first tour and my wheels would have been spinning and I probably can’t really remember the track,’’ Martin said.
‘‘I do remember it being pretty slow and if you bowled a dead or a soft length then it sat up nicely to get hit.
‘‘You learn quite a lot on those wickets and the bowlers will have to work a lot harder to get their wickets.’’