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By Joel Bailey |
Port of Spain, T&T, June 5 2002: THE NATIONAL Stadiums of Grenada and St Lucia will take centre stage during the five-week Test and one-day international series between the West Indies and New Zealand from June 3 to July 2.
The spectacular Queen's Park Stadium, St George's, Grenada, which has hosted five one-dayers since it was formally opened in 1999, is the venue for the second Test from June 28-July 2 while the US $13 million venue at Beausejour, Castries, St Lucia will stage its first international matches, the back-to-back 1-day matches on June 8 and 9.
West Indies-New Zealand series has never been a top-of-the-line confrontation in any case, with the teams meeting in only six Tests since 1990.
New Zealand won both Tests and all five one-dayers during their last meeting in New Zealand in the 1999-2000 season. But the Kiwis are yet to win a Test in the Caribbean after tours in 1972, 1985 and 1996.
The Windies are currently on a high following their 2-1 triumph in the recent five-Test series against India and, with their reserves expected to tour England and Canada from June 10-August 5, is expected to prevail against their weakened opponents.
The Kiwis, nicknamed the Black Caps, will be boosted by the return from injuries of Nathan Astle, Shane Bond, Jacob Oram and the bespectacled Daniel Vettori.
But the New Zealanders will still be shaken from their early return home from Pakistan on May 9 after abandoning the rest of their tour following a bomb blast near the team hotel in Karachi which killed 14 people.
Pakistan swept the limited-overs series 3-0 and had a 1-0 lead in the two-Test series when the New Zealand team was recalled home.
Astle, who was the lone star of the Kiwis' tour of the Caribbean in 1996, is recovering from a bothersome knee suffered during last month's aborted tour of Pakistan.
Bond shot to prominence during the 2001 World Series Cricket against Australia and South Africa but, as well as Vettori, have both suffered stress fractures on their backs. Oram succummed to a side strain in Pakistan but has returned to the one-day squad.
New Zealand will make do without top players Chris Cairns, Shayne O'Connor, Andre Adams while injury-prone Dion Nash announced his retirement from the game in April.
Also missing from the team is Matthew Sinclair, who slammed 214 in his debut Test against the Windies during the 1999-2000 series but has been relatively inconsistent since.
The announcement of the Kiwi teams were delayed by a day due to player disputes over contracts, coming in the heels of retirements from the team of wicketkeeper Adam Parore and pacer Chris Drum over financial woes.
Left-arm spinner Matthew Hart, who along with captain Stephen Fleming and Nash was suspended for alleged marijuana smoking during the WI tour of New Zealand in 1995, returns to the one-day party after an absence of three years, with pacer Paul Hitchcock receiving a first call-up while Chris Martin, Mark Richardson and wicketkeeper Robbie Hart, brother of Matthew, joining the Test team after the conclusion of the one-day series.
Chairman of selectors Richard Hadlee confirmed that one more player would be added to the Test side after the conclusion of the one-dayers.
SQUADS -
One-day: Stephen Fleming (captain), Nathan Astle, Shane Bond, Ian Butler, Chris Harris, Matthew Hart, Matt Horne, Paul Hitchcock, Craig McMillan, Chris Nevin, Jacob Oram, Daryl Tuffey, Scott Styris, Daniel Vettori, Lou Vincent.
Test squad: Fleming (captain), Astle, Bond, Butler, Harris, Robbie Hart, Horne, McMillan, Chris Martin, Mark Richardson, Tuffey, Vettori, Vincent.
SCHEDULE:
June 3: v UWI Vice-Chancellor's XI, Mona, Jamaica.
June 5: First One-day International, Sabina Park, Jamaica.
June 8: Second One-day International, National Stadium, St.Lucia.
June 9: Third One-day International, National Stadium, St.Lucia.
June 12: Fourth One-day International, Queen's Park Oval, Trinidad.
June 15: Fifth One-day International, Arnos Vale, St.Vincent.
June 21-25: First Test, Kensington Oval, Barbados.
June 28-July 2: Second Test, New Queen's Park, Grenada.
Joel Bailey is a Trinidad based sports journalist and a sports columnist on www.caribvoice.org.