There's a selection bottleneck for New Zealand's pace bowling candidates Trent Boult, Tim Southee and Neil Wagner and opening batting contenders Peter Fulton, Hamish Rutherford and Tom Latham ahead of the first test against the West Indies.
Wagner snared five for 38 from 10.2 overs against a Jamaican Select XI in the tour opener, a two-dayer on a scraggy pitch in Trelawny.
What looks a similar adjacent strip will be used for the three-day game starting Tuesday (NZT).
Wagner needed his performance. With spinners Ish Sodhi and Mark Craig likely to play the tests in turn-friendly Caribbean conditions, only two pace bowlers are expected to feature at Sabina Park in Kingston next week. Given the test bowling records of Boult (30 wickets at 19.26) and Southee (29 wickets at 20.27) over the home summer, Wagner's place appears threatened.
However, he has a shot at retention. The New Zealanders believe the ball will swing for the first hour or less on abrasive West Indies grounds. Boult and Southee are swing specialists. Wagner is an asset because of an ability to toil in trying conditions and a knack for getting the best out of an old ball.
If selected, it could be at the expense of Boult or Southee, who went wicketless in three games in the Indian Premier League. Yet axing either would seem knee-jerk.
It's also an even contest between the three opening contenders at the top of the order.
Captain Fulton made a duck and 30 across both innings, Rutherford 19 and 13 and Latham 33 and 14. Each should get a further chance in the final practice match.
"It was a hard surface on which to make runs," New Zealand coach Mike Hesson said. "The first innings [112-6 declared] was a matter of survival and our batsmen struggled to score.
"They manoeuvred the ball better in the second innings [210 for six]. We need to be rotating the strike.
"I don't think the test wickets will turn and bounce as much as this one. There was no real pace but conditions were extreme. The spinners were bowling bouncers off a [good] length."
Mark Craig collected three for 17 from nine overs on debut, albeit in a match without first-class status.
"He couldn't have wished for a better pitch to bowl on but still created uncertainty for the batsmen," Hesson said. "Hopefully the wicket for the second match will play flatter to challenge him more."
West Indies spinner Sunil Narine will miss the test series, after choosing to play the IPL final for Kolkata rather than return by the June 1 deadline imposed by the board.
The West Indies will now look to Shane Shillingford, who is returning after remedial work on his action, and Sulieman Benn, who played his last test three and a half years ago, as their spin options.
New Zealand XI 112-6 decl (T. Latham 33), Jamaican XI 170-9 (N. Wagner 5-38), NZ XI 210-6 (BJ Watling 50).
- by Andrew Alderson
