Poor weather mars preparations

West Indies' preparations for the the first Test against New Zealand have been hit by poor weather. The team was greeted by chilly temperatures in Dunedin, and rain forced them to train indoors.

Temperatures dipped to 10 degrees Celsius and steady rain fell for most of the day. Officials and weather forecasters have expressed doubts about conditions improving by Thursday.

West Indies, who drew their only warm-up match against Auckland, and are aiming for their first series win in New Zealand since 1994-95, were hoping to get more practice and spend time acclimatising to conditions. However, the squad had to make do with a two-hour indoor session at the High Performance Centre.

"It's frustrating," Shivnarine Chanderpaul told the Jamaica Gleaner. "Obviously, I'd been looking forward to the first training session. I woke up very early at 5:30am ... looked outside and it was raining. So, it all changed."

However, it wasn't only the visitors who suffered. New Zealand's practice session was also hampered by the poor weather, leaving new coach Andy Moles disappointed. They had to make do with time indoors to the Edgar Centre. "It was frustrating - I'd mapped out in my brain what I wanted to do but I woke up this morning with a text message and it was raining," he told 3 News.

The rain should freshen up the University Oval pitch, not an encouraging sign for batsmen on either side. In the previous match on the ground, a four-day State Championship encounter between Otago and Northern Districts, the highest total was 277.

The one previous international held at the ground was the Test between New Zealand and Bangladesh earlier this year, which the hosts won by nine wickets.

Dunedin, though, has a history of poor weather when international cricket comes to town. In 1998, the opening Test against India at the Carisbrook Stadium was washed out without a ball bowled.