West Indies coach Bennett King. - FILE
bridgetown, barbados (cmc)
WEST INDIES COACH Bennett King is satisfied that the regional team is adequately prepared for the forthcoming tour of New Zealand, even in the absence of a customary preparatory camp.
Speaking before the team's departure at the Grantley Adams International Airport yesterday, King pointed to constant match practice in the Carib Beer Series as an effective substitute for a camp.
"The playing of cricket is something that is important for the players. The most ideal way to set up a Test series is to have them play lots of cricket," King said.
"Having the Carib Beer Series before the tour is something that should put the players in reasonable form.
"One of the issues for us moving forward is the amount of cricket balls people get to hit, to field and the amount of opportunities they get to work on their fitness and these sorts of things.
"These are some of the things other leading nations get to do plenty of whenever they want. We need to try and make these available for our athletes as well."
West Indies open the tour of New Zealand with their first ever Twenty20 encounter on February 16 before playing five One-Day Internationals on February 18, 22, 25, March 1 and 4.
Those will be followed by a three-match Test series with matches set for Auckland from March 9-13, Wellington from March 17 -21 and Napier from March 25 -29.
DOGGED SIDE
New Zealand are ranked No. five on the International Cricket Council's Test rankings and are at No. four in One-Day Internationals.
"They are a dogged side. They are a side that really uses their team," King said.
"They don't necessarily have a lot of superstars. Their batters all generally tend to chip in and fight hard.
"They're a solid side. They always compete. They're always aggressive. They do a lot of the basics quite well."
It is the first time that several of the West Indies players will be touring New Zealand and they will have limited time to adjust to the conditions.
"It can be very cold, especially when you get down south," King said.
"We've got to make sure that we put that out of their mind and enjoy the experience of New Zealand. The grounds can be small, they've got one or two larger ones and some of them are funny shaped because of rugby."
The West Indies team left without captain Shivnarine Chander-paul, who was flying out of Miami and the Jamaican trio of Chris Gayle, Wavell Hinds and Jerome Taylor who left Monday.
SQUAD:Shivnarine Chanderpaul (captain), Ramnaresh Sarwan (vice- captain), Chris Gayle, Daren Ganga, Runako Morton, Dwayne Bravo, Dwayne Smith, Denesh Ramdin, Jerome Taylor, Ian Bradshaw, Rawl Lewis, Fidel Edwards, Deighton Butler, Wavell Hinds.
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