The inclusion of two Scotsmen has been a big boost to the New Zealand men's curling team that will contest the world championships for the first time since 2005.
Peter de Boer (Wellington) will skip the team and Kenny Thomson (Auckland) will be in the middle of the four.
De Boer (39) finished runner-up in the Scottish national championships three times before settling in New Zealand.
He is a knowledgeable tactician with the experience to put New Zealand into a position to qualify for the Winter Olympics in Russia in 2014.
De Boer and Thomson have instilled confidence in the New Zealand team and helped it to qualify for the world championships when it finished runner-up to China at the Asia and Pacific championships.
"This is the best New Zealand team we have had since we competed at the Winter Olympics at Turin in 2006," manager Peter Becker told the Otago Daily Times.
The New Zealand team trained at the Braehead and Greenacre rinks in Glasgow and at Kinross, near Perth, before travelling to Basel.
The training included warm-up games against former world champions Hammy McMillan and David Smith.
De Boer is under no illusions as to what lies ahead for his side.
"Of the 12 teams playing, we are ranked the lowest, at 17th in the world," he said. "We're up against it.
"But our guys are in good shape and I think we will surprise a few teams, finish in the middle of the pack, and pick up some valuable Olympic qualification points along the way."
The most experienced member of the New Zealand team is Maniototo farmer Sean Becker (35), who was the New Zealand team flag bearer at the 2006 Olympics. He first represented New Zealand in 1994.
His brother Scott (27) first reached the international arena at the junior world championships in 2002.
The other member of the team is Philip Dowling (44), of Mt Ida, who came back into the New Zealand team for the Asia and Pacific championships last year after a gap of three years.
The men's world championship starts in Basel, Switzerland, tonight and continues to April 8. New Zealand plays Scotland in its first game.
