World Cup preparations loom over test series

Thursday, 25 December 2014 00:10 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Reuters: Final preparations for the World Cup loom large over the upcoming test series between New Zealand and Sri Lanka, which starts at the Hagley Oval on Friday, with seven one-day games to follow the two matches in Christchurch and Wellington. Both sides will be fine tuning their World Cup selections, with final squads needed for Jan. 8, the day after the second test ends, but New Zealand will also be seeking to build on their recent resurgence in the test arena.After winning both home series last summer, beating West Indies away, then drawing with Pakistan after being hammered in the first test in the UAE, New Zealand enter the series playing at a level that would not justify their ranking of seventh. The team has been galavanised under the captaincy of Brendon McCullum, with the only concern in the top five the opening partnership, with Hamish Rutherford given another opportunity to prove his credentials alongside impressive rookie Tom Latham. Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor will be expected to provide the majority of runs with the 24-year-old Williamson coming of age this year, having scored 844 test runs, including four centuries, at 60.28. McCullum’s move back to the middle order from his role as a temporary opener will solidify an already strong tail, who are expertly guided by wicketkeeper BJ Watling. Their new ball duo of Tim Southee and Trent Boult have also matured in the last two years, with the pair’s ability to exploit New Zealand conditions and get the ball to swing and seam. Sri Lanka coach Marvan Atapattu has already said his side are partly using the tests to get used to New Zealand conditions, particularly at Hagley Oval where they face the hosts in the opening match of the World Cup on Feb. 14. However, he is more concerned with finalising his World Cup options, especially in finding an opening partner for Tillakaratne Dilshan. “We’ll stick to our plans in finding the 15 that we want for the World Cup,” Atapattu told cricket website cricinfo.com before a warm-up match in Queenstown. “We have passed the stage where we’ve tried everybody and we have pruned our squad down to 30. “In the 30 we know whom we want in our 15 except for one or two places which we hope to fill during the test series.” He also has the added problem of finding someone to fill the hole left by Mahela Jayawardene’s retirement from test cricket, while left arm spinner Rangana Herath will miss the first, and possibly the second, test with a leg injury. Herath’s absence could be a blessing for New Zealand given he has taken 31 wickets at 19.58 in four tests against the hosts and is the top test wicket taker in 2014 with 60 in 10 matches.

Relief, satisfaction as new test venue opens

WELLINGTON (Reuters): Canterbury Cricket chief Lee Germon has run the gamut of emotions in the last three years as he fought to bring international cricket back to earthquake ravaged Christchurch, though quiet satisfaction is what he will feel on Friday. New Zealand and Sri Lanka open their two-test series on Friday at the country’s newest test venue, Hagley Oval, a purpose-built ground on the vast green space of Hagley Park on the western edges of Christchurch’s central city. It will be the first international cricket match in New Zealand’s second-largest city since the 22 February 2011 earthquake that devastated Christchurch and killed almost 200 people. “To get that first ball bowled on the first day of the test match will be a huge sense of satisfaction,” Germon, a former New Zealand wicketkeeper and captain, told Reuters in a telephone interview. “To me, this is a true test match ground,” he added of the venue, which sold out its 8,000-capacity for the first day. “When I walked out there, as a past player, it made me feel like playing the game. “The feedback we have seen from guys who have seen grounds all around the world, has been hugely positive. “To me that’s really satisfying.” After the test, the ground will be switched to one-day mode with New Zealand playing Sri Lanka on 11 January, when its facilities and match-day logistics and services will be tested before it is handed over to Cricket World Cup organisers, who will build temporary seating to take the capacity to 20,000. The ground will host three pool matches in the Feb. 14-March 29 tournament, including the opener between New Zealand and Sri Lanka. While the earthquake destroyed the main international rugby and cricket venue at Lancaster Park, Germon had been looking for a new site for test matches in line with the move to boutique-sized venues in New Zealand. They settled on redeveloping a site on the southern side of Hagley Park, which is dotted with sporting fields and facilities, tree-lined walking trails and bike paths and the city’s Botanic Gardens and where cricket had been played for more than 150 years, before they ran into opposition. Canterbury Cricket had to fight an expensive battle at New Zealand’s Environment Court with a protest group, who were against what they saw as the possible commercialisation of the public green space in the devastated city. Germon, however, said once the court granted them consent to develop the ground last year and the work began, opponents began to come around. “The biggest positive has been the way the ground has been embraced by cricketers and the public,” he said. “The best thing for me is that we have had a number of people come and say that it looks like it has been there for years, it fits nicely into the ground, it makes sense and we’re really pleased we have got it.”