NZ face more dramas on tour and at home

You couldn’t ask for a worse preparation.

The Black Caps are coming off a 2-0 test series loss where the scoreline goes nowhere near telling the story of how one-sided the games were, they’re still missing four of their best players, and now another scandal with their employers has erupted back home.

The rehashing of ‘‘Taylorgate’’ yesterday, following a leaked letter from bowling coach Shane Bond to New Zealand Cricket, leaves the sport’s national body with more egg on its face.

And now the players get to face the South African one-day team, ranked No 1 in the world, a whopping eight places higher than they are.

At least the South Africans are resting Jacques Kallis, the fifthhighest ODI run scorer of all time.

The first game in the threematch series begins tonight in Paarl.

Senior New Zealand player Kyle Mills said he believed the Black Caps were a respected oneday unit.

‘‘We’re under no illusions that this is going to be a tough task over here,’’ he said. ‘‘South Africa are No 1 in the world, they’re a quality unit across the board. We’re going to have to play exceptionally well in all facets of the game.’’

He said the heavy test series loss would be soon forgotten.

‘‘It’s been a pretty disappointing couple of weeks for the guys that have been over here, but this is a new form of the game, and half the group are a new set of faces as well.

‘‘Our one-day form has generally been pretty good. [We’ve been] semifinalists in major tournaments around the world.’’

In the past 12 months, New Zea- land have played 16 ODIs. Two have been no-results, four have been victories – three against Zimbabwe – and 10 were losses.

This has led to New Zealand sitting behind Bangladesh on the ICC rankings.

Mills is one of eight one-day specialists joining the team.

He said he was uncertain what to expect from the Paarl surface, though history might suggest batting first.

Five of the eight completed matches have been won by the team batting first, but the last game could be the most telling.

South Africa met Sri Lanka at the Boland Park ground 12 months ago and scored 301. They then skittled Sri Lanka for just 43.

One man fizzing at the chance to play is South African-born injury replacement Grant Elliott. He hasn’t played for New Zealand for more than two years, but the all-rounder replaced Corey Anderson last week in South Africa.

‘‘They’re a good team, but oneday cricket probably brings skill sets closer with the teams, and we’ve always proven we’re quite a good one-day team,’’ he said.

‘‘I’m really excited, especially to come back to South Africa and play against South Africa. It’ll be a big series. I’m pretty up for it.’’