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Auckland: New Zealand bowler Ewen Thompson has a no-frills game plan ready if he gets the nod to make his international cricket debut in the Twenty20 series against the West Indies.
Thompson, who turned 29 last week, is the new face in the New Zealand team to play Twenty20 matches in Auckland tomorrow and in Hamilton on Sunday.
The Central Districts medium pacer agreed the shortened format is a difficult place make an international debut but he had decided to stay true to what had largely worked for him in all forms of domestic cricket over the past two seasons.
New Zealnad's all-rounder Jacob Oram missed the drawn Test series against the same opponents due to a calf strain and also sat out the visit to Australia in November because of a back problem which had forced his early return home from the tour of Bangladesh.
Coach Andy Moles, who took over from John Bracewell at the start of the domestic season, is glad to have Oram available for the Boxing Day encounter under the Eden Park floodlights.
After a drawn test series with the West Indies, he could sense his New Zealand teammates were desperate for a 2-0 win in the Twenty20s ahead of the five-match one-day series starting in Queenstown on New Year's Eve.
Like test opening batsman Tim McIntosh this month, Thompson had no qualms about making his international debut less than a year out from his 30th birthday.
Of the present squads, only four from each side played in that match -- Scott Styris, Brendon McCullum, James Franklin and Jeetan Patel for New Zealand and Chris Gayle, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Denesh Ramdin and Jerome Taylor for the West Indies.
Only Twenty20 played between Newzealand and Westindies at same ground ended with tied.
| New Zealand | West Indies | |
| Coach | Andy Moles | John Dyson |
| ICC Ranking | 7 | 10 |
| Key Players | Ross Taylor, Daniel Vettori, Jacob Oram, McCullum | Ramnaresh Sarwan, Chris Gayle, Jerome Taylor, Xavier Marshall |
| Stats and Trivia |
McCullum is New Zealand's most successful Twenty20 batsman. In 16 games he has scored 323 runs at 23.07, at a strike-rate of 120.07, with a best of 45. McCullum has never been out for 0 either. |
Gayle's ten sixes in what is the highest international Twenty20 score, during game one of the ICC World Twenty20, is the most for an individual innings. |
| Weather | The Auckland forecast says partly cloudy, but by the time the match starts the conditions should have cleared up and a cool evening is on the cards. | |
| Pitch | The Eden Park pitch has traditionally suited batting, not always providing the bowlers sharp bounce or speed, and there could be more of the same for this Twenty20 outing. | |
| Current Form | LLLLL | LLWLW (Most recent last) |
| Head to head | Total 1, WI 0, NZ 0, Tied 1 | |
