New Zealand will be looking to put a summer of stalemates behind them when they face the West Indies in the second one-day international today.
After two drawn Tests and a win apiece in the two-match Twenty20 series — the home side were on top in the first one-day clash on Wednesday in Queenstown before rain brought an early end to the game.
When the rain came, the West Indies were struggling at 129 for five in the 36th over.
PHOTO: AP
“It’s obviously disappointing the game was cut short because the little bit we did see, we managed to get in a very strong position,” said Black Caps coach Andy Moles.
West Indies captain Chris Gayle conceded that New Zealand had the upper hand and the home side are keen to continue their momentum from that match on the unpredictable wicket at Christchurch’s AMI Stadium.
New Zealand did not lose a ODI series last year and a clean sweep against the Windies would lift them to fourth in the world rankings.
Explosive batsman Brendon McCullum said he could feel the team’s confidence growing.
“We made some inroads into their batting in the first match. I think we bowled really well and had some good stuff going on in the field as well,” McCullum said.
“The guys seemed to step up and just flip back into that confident mood we normally operate in. From that perspective as a team we’re travelling pretty well,” he said.
Much of New Zealand’s success has been put down to astute planning with a specific blueprint for each player.
“The one-day format of the game, we have good history in and we showed again when we applied pressure [in the first ODI] the team looked very dangerous,” Moles said.
“We spoke about certain areas we wanted to bowl to certain players and the guys performed really well,” he said.
New Zealand’s cause was also helped by the absence of key Windies batsman Shivnarine Chanderpaul, who missed the first match with a hand injury and remains a doubt for today.
Gayle said a decision on Chanderpaul could be delayed until just before the toss to give him as much time as possible to recover.
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