"Not really acceptable": New Zealand coach on practice pitches ahead of West Indies clash
Jun 12, 2024
Tarouba [Trinidad and Tobago], June 12 : As New Zealand gears up for their match against West Indies, head coach Gary Stead said his side was not able to practice as the practice pitches were "not really acceptable" after "downpour for about five minutes."
New Zealand abandoned their afternoon training session an hour early owing to "unacceptable" practice strips, while heavy rain cancelled West Indies' floodlit session entirely. New Zealand briefly attempted to use the practice strips but quickly gave up.
"We had that downpour for about five minutes, and the practice wickets got wet out in the middle. I know the priority was obviously for the match wicket to get covered, but when we went back and tried them they were pretty slippery to stand up on," " Gary Stead said as quoted by ESPNcricinfo.
"The balls were going through the top of the surface, so we had a good fielding training instead. It was deemed not really acceptable to get anything out of the nets," he added.
The rainy season has begun in Trinidad, and the national meteorological office issued a yellow-level bad weather advisory on Tuesday morning, indicating the possibility of thunderstorms. There was a brief downpour during New Zealand's practice, while the pitch was uncovered, followed by lengthier, heavier ones after they left. Wednesday night's forecast seems considerably better.
"Again, the pitches weren't great, Balls were rising up around throat height regularly, so it was more facing the slower bowlers and throws. It comes back to making sure that mentally we get in a good frame of mind and ready for this match tomorrow night," Stead said.
With New Zealand's minimal preparation for the event already under scrutiny, its batsmen have rarely had the opportunity to face fast bowling in the nets since arriving in Trinidad. They travelled from Guyana on Saturday and trained on Sunday, but encountered identical problems.
New Zealand are on the verge of being eliminated early and will need a substantial improvement in their performance against tournament co-hosts West Indies in a critical T20 World Cup encounter.
The match, which will be held at Providence Stadium, comes after New Zealand suffered a surprise defeat in their opening match of the ongoing T20 World Cup against Afghanistan.
