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Christchurch: After two drawn Tests and a win apiece in the two-match Twenty20 series -- the home side were on top in the first One-day clash on Wednesday in Queenstown before rain brought an early end to the game. When the rain came, the West Indies were struggling at 129 for five in the 36th over.
"It's obviously disappointing the game was cut short because the little bit we did see, we managed to get in a very strong position," said coach Andy Moles.
Explosive batsman Brendon McCullum said he could feel the team's confidence growing. "We made some inroads into their batting in the first match. I think we bowled really well and had some good stuff going on in the field as well," McCullum said. "The guys seemed to step up and just flip back into that confident mood we normally operate in. From that perspective as a team we're travelling pretty well."
Much of New Zealand's success has been put down to astute planning with a specific blueprint for each player. "The one-day format of the game, we have good history in and we showed again when we applied pressure (in the first ODI) the team looked very dangerous," Moles said. "We spoke about certain areas we wanted to bowl to certain players and the guys performed really well."
New Zealand's cause was also helped by the absence of key West Indian batsman Shivnarine Chanderpaul, who missed the first match with a hand injury and remains a doubt for the second encounter.
Shivnarine Chanderpaul, the West Indies batsman, could be sidelined from the second ODI against New Zealand in Christchurch on Saturday due to a hand injury.
Gayle said a decision on Chanderpaul could be delayed until just before the toss to give him as much time as possible to recover. "He's our number one player," said Gayle. "If you don't have Shiv in the team it's a big loss."
In the last match here 10 months ago, England were restricted to 242 with the wicket favouring New Zealand's spin pairing of Daniel Vettori and Jeetan Patel. Similar conditions could see Patel replace Grant Elliot in the New Zealand line-up. "That wicket was a bit slow and took some turn as I recall so we will just have to see what the surface looks like when we get there," Vettori said.
| New Zealand | West Indies | |
| Coach | Andy Moles | John Dyson |
| ICC Ranking | 5 | 8 |
| Key Players | Ross Taylor, Vettori, McCullum | Chris Gayle, Sarwan, Taylor |
| Stats and Trivia | New Zealand did not lose a ODI series last year and a clean sweep against the West Indies would lift them to fourth in the world rankings. | West Indies captain Chris Gayle conceded that New Zealand had the upper hand and the home side are keen to continue their momentum from that match on the unpredictable wicket at Christchurch's AMI Stadium. |
| Weather | Reschedule outdoor activities for early morning evening. Seek shade between 11am 4pm. Re-apply sunscreen regularly. Partly cloudy skies. High 69oF. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph. | |
| Pitch | Crucial to New Zealand's plans for the second game will be the state of the Christchurch wicket, where sides have compiled scores of 300-plus over the past decade. | |
| Current Form | WLWWN | WLLLN (Most recent last) |
| Head to head | Total 47, WI 23, NZ 18, NR 7 | |
