New Zealanders to get early look at Indian form

Mumbai's Irani Trophy match against the Rest of India will have at least two very interested spectators from overseas. Ashley Ross, New Zealand's stand-in coach, and his video analyst, Zach Hitchcock, are flying into Mumbai before the New Zealand team begin their Indian tour to catch the action.

The New Zealanders are in an eight-day camp in Brisbane in preparation for the tour and, while the players will return to their homes for three days before flying out to India on September 21, Ross and Hitchcock will fly on to Mumbai. There's nothing secret about the visit, and Indian officials have been advised of their attendance. Ross said it would help in the confirmation of the strategies to be employed in the series.

Ross told Wisden CricInfo from Brisbane that the side had had outstanding preparation for the tour, and a bonus of four days in Christchurch in outside conditions that had not been bargained on. The New Zealanders were able to practise in outdoor nets, on pitches that had been used before the side went to Sri Lanka earlier in the year. Ross said the ground staff had done an excellent job at the Lincoln University High Performance Centre to bring the wickets back up. Because they were already used, they were bare, low and slow, just what was wanted in order to prepare for India.

The preparation has continued in Brisbane in temperatures around 31 degrees. That was in contrast to Christchurch where ice was found on the covers one morning.

While there had been no match play in Brisbane, there had been three intensive net sessions each day, although the bowlers had been given non-bowling days during that time. "The bowlers have been working on the routines they expect to use in India while also getting their Test match bowling loads up," Ross said. "We want to have them up to Test match loading by the time we hit India, so that there is one less thing to worry about.

"They can spend their warm-up time in India getting used to the conditions and the speed and lengths they will have to bowl at, without also having to worry about their loading. Warren Frost [New Zealand Cricket's sports science medical co-ordinator] has provided us with an absolutely outstanding programme of bowling and non-bowling activities for the players.

"The bowlers have been bowling 18 overs a day, but in spells of six overs each. So we have had four days in Christchurch outside and, by the time we finish here, another eight days outside. Then we have two warm-up games in India before the first Test," said Ross.

The bowlers have been bowling to simulated match conditions, with diversions that had been promised in Ross's pre-tour strategy, while also working on where they will be bowling, and their accuracy has been tested through what he described as the "scatter pattern" analysis. There had been no injury worries and the exercise had been most successful.