Vettori to lean on McCullum for reviews

Daniel Vettori, the New Zealand captain, has said he will rely heavily on his deputy, Brendon McCullum, before deciding to challenge the on-field umpire's decision in the series against West Indies. The umpire review system is to be trialled for the second time during the Thursday's first Test in Dunedin - it was first tested in the Sri Lanka-India Tests - and Vettori is enthusiastic about the addition.

"I think it is quite exciting for the game," Vettori said. "It brings a new element into it, particularly for a captain. I suppose I'll have to be strong with some people about not wanting to appeal every decision off their bowling. And guys are aware that if they make a mistake it can affect the team."

Both the batting and bowling sides are given a maximum of three unsuccessful reviews during an innings, and Vettori felt McCullum as wicketkeeper would be in an ideal position to decide when to challenge a not-out decision in the field. "He is a senior player and has a pretty good view and feel for what's going on," Vettori said. "So we will lean on him a fair bit." Mahela Jayawardene, the Sri Lankan captain, had used the reviews judiciously against India, having the advantage of witnessing the action closely from first slip.

John Dyson, the West Indies coach, said the system had been discussed by the team. "Without having experienced it first hand I can only go on what the others have written, and everyone seems pretty happy about it," he said. "We had a talk about the system [Tuesday] night and went over how it works: what they need to know about it and, not so much tactics, but, you wouldn't like to waste opportunities and miss out on opportunities."

Rudi Koertzen and Mark Benson officiated during the Sri Lanka-India Tests, and the two are confident the system will be a success. They will be joined by Amiesh Saheba, yet to umpire a Test, for the two-Test series. "Even if we made a supposed error, there was no 'I told you so'," Benson said. "What you're trying to do is get away from the obvious mistakes, which could decide a Test.

"There were no clear-cut errors in three Test matches, and there were four unbelievable spinners playing on turning tracks." There were, however, a few contentious calls in the series.

Vettori felt New Zealand had the edge going into the series, but was wary of the big names in the West Indian batting line-up. "I would hate to say we are favourites given our record recently but I guess being at home tips things our way," he said. "But they have got such batting power in [Chris] Gayle, [Ramnaresh] Sarwan and [Shivnarine] Chanderpaul you can never count them out."

He said the changes in the team had brought in fresh energy instead of upsetting the team. "Apart from the rain on the first couple of days, we've had a great preparation and everything's been positive. The opening batsmen have enjoyed John Wright being here and Andy [Moles] is a former opening bat too." Vettori, though, suggested Chris Martin, dropped for the series, should return once he finds his rhythm and was pleased with the reserves available for the team. "Tim Southee and Kyle Mills are another couple, who on their day, can be right up there."