TelstraClear Black Caps team to meet Easterns named

TelstraClear Black Caps coach Denis Aberhart today named an 11-man team to play Easterns at Willowmore Park, Benoni tomorrow (Tuesday, February 4).

The team is:

Stephen Fleming (captain)
Nathan Astle
Craig McMillan
Chris Harris
Chris Cairns
Scott Styris
Jacob Oram
Brendon McCullum
Daniel Vettori
Daryl Tuffey
Shane Bond

Aberhart said that the team had settled in well and were making the most of the superb facilities available to them at Centurion.

"Both the facilities at Centurion and the weather have been faultless.

"This has made for excellent practice conditions and I have been pleased with both the effort and execution I have seen from my players.

"The challenge now is to translate the positive preparation into good on-field performances and we will be looking to see how the players manage this in our first practice game tomorrow."

Aberhart said the team's two practice matches (against Easterns and against Gauteng at Soweto, Johannesburg, on Thursday, February 6) would be opportunities for the team to execute specific game plans in South African conditions.

"We have a clear idea of how we want to play the game.

"We now want to see how the various combinations we have selected can execute these plans under South African conditions."