By IANS,
Hamilton : New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori has hoped that the Seddon Park pitch will offer a bit of pace to his new ball bowlers that will give them an advantage over India in the first cricket Test starting here Wednesday.
“We still want something with a bit of pace in it — that would suit us more than it would suit the Indian side — but I don’t think we’re about doctoring wickets,” Vettori said on the eve of the match here Tuesday.
There as a distinctive green tinge on the pitch.
“We just want to push the wickets we think we can play best on and that’s something with a little bit of pace,” Vettori said. “We’re up against it.”
For Vettori, one of his potent weapons will be James Franklin, who has again been designated as New Zealand’s allrounder for the three-match series against India.
The 28-year-old has barely featured in the two matches since making his return from extensive knee surgery.
Three months on, he contemplates his second test assignment with a greater degree of confidence.
“I’ve had a lot more cricket through my body now,” he said. “I think body-wise it’s a lot more hardened being at the back end of the season.”
“I think the pace is getting better,” he said. “Playing domestic cricket there’s no speed gun radars, you can’t really judge it but talking to (Wellington keeper) Chris Nevin over the last couple of days, he’s been pretty happy about the way the ball has been coming through on what has been a pretty flat pitch at McLean Park.”
Franklin will be up against Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid. “I don’t have a history against them and they don’t have a history against me so things start from afresh,” he said.
“It’s hard not to notice what they’ve been up to in the last couple of weeks, that’s a powerful batting line-up,” he said. “We’ve seen if we can get a little bit of pace and bounce in the wicket maybe we can expose the Indian batsmen when the ball is jumping around a bit,” he said.