New Zealand players pleased after first outdoor session in Southampton
May 26, 2021
Southampton [England], May 26 : Constant spells of rain in Southampton has seen the New Zealand players train indoors ahead of the two-Test series against England. While the team has tried to make the most of the indoor facilities, the boys were finally able to train outdoors on Tuesday.
Taking to Twitter, BLACKCAPS wrote: "Outside! First net session on grass in Southampton. #ENGvNZ."
Speaking on the BLACKCAPS twitter handle, batsman Will Young said: "It is lovely. It has been fairly wet to be honest since we arrived in Southampton. We have been training indoors for 4-5 days. So, the whole group has been itching to get outside. And thankfully for us batters, we got a chance to get here and experience the wickets."
Head coach Gary Stead had earlier spoken about the boys waiting to get a feel of conditions as they were consistently train indoors.
"I guess when you come to an English summer you still expect to get outside occasionally. It's been a little bit frustrating because you come over and guys just want to get a feel for the different conditions here," stuff.co.nz quoted Stead as saying.
"We've been lucky with the buildup we had in New Zealand. We trained on grass wickets, we had two camps as well. So it's not like we're miles behind or anything like that," he added.
Talking about the challenges of carrying a bigger squad, Stead said: "It's just a little bit different when you've got a bigger squad and stuff as well, with 20-odd players here, to manage their expectations when you're indoors is a little bit more difficult. But something that I guess we try and pride ourselves on is our ability to just roll with the punches and keep adapting to what's in front of us."
