Pitch behaviour surprises curator

Australian captain Steve Waugh said it wasn’t ideal wicket but said bad shot selection also contributed to the high number of dismissals. “I don’t think it was that bad, but it’s not something we’re used to on day one,” Waugh said. “The standard of batting probably wasn’t great either (yesterday) but we still got 214.”

Waugh agreed it was entertaining for the crowd, but “only if you want to make them three-day Tests.”

New Zealand coach David Trist said the pitch had surprised him. “Certainly you wouldn’t expect it to be of that type on day one, no doubt about it,” Trist said.

New Zealand spinner Daniel Vettori, who took his fourth haul of five wickets in Tests on Saturday and who has so far eight for the match, not surprisingly had few complaints.

“It’s probably more a third day wicket but at Eden Park the last year or so it’s what you come to expect,” he said.

Camp would be fruitful: Adams

KINGSTON (Jamaica): New West Indies captain Jimmy Adams believes his side’s nine-day preparatory camp here has brought a new focus to the players and should bring improved results. The 31-year-old from Jamaica, who has replaced Brian Lara, also feels his side is well-prepared for the Test series against Zimbabwe, the first to be contested at Queen’s Park Oval in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad, starting on Thursday.

“In the recent past, we have not had situations where we have gathered for any length of time before a series,” Adams said on Saturday. “I think the idea of the camp has been a good thing. I firmly believe we will see positive results for having got together before a series and spending a lot of time working together.”

The camp for 19 cricketers from which the selection panel picked their squad of 13 started in Kingston last Sunday.

It was also a chance for the new management team of coach Roger Harper, assistant coach Jeffrey Dujon, manager Ricky Skerritt, sports therapist Ronald Rogers and performance consultant Dr Rudi Webster.

Mike Findlay, chairman of the West Indies selection panel, noted the management reported that the training camp was extremely successful.

Ambrose, Walsh included

ST JOHN’S, Antigua: Courtney Walsh, who needs nine wickets to beat Kapil Dev’s world record 434 Test victims, was named on Saturday in West Indies’s 13-man squad for the first Test against zimbabwe starting in Trinidad on Thursday.

An ankle injury and a bout of flu had threatened Walsh’s place in the side.

Fellow paceman Curtly Ambrose, who had an X-ray on a swollen knee on Friday, has also been named in the squad.

Chairman of selectors Michael findlay said both Walsh and Ambrose had been passed fit by doctors and had ”sufficient time to recover fully” by Thursday.

The squad: Jimmy Adams (Captain), Sherwin Campbell, Adrian Griffith, Chris Gayle, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Wavell Hinds, Ricardo Powell, Ridley Jacobs, Franklyn Rose, Curtly Ambrose, Reon King, Courtney Walsh, Nehemiah Perry.

Campbell, Carlisle excel

POINTE-A-PIERRE (Trinidad): An unbroken 134-run sixth-wicket stand between Alistair Campbell and Stuart Carlisle propped up Zimbabwe against the West Indies Cricket Board President’s XI on the second day of their first-class match.

Campbell, unbeaten on 72, and Carlisle, not out on 70, threw Zimbabwe a lifeline after they had crashed to 88 for five in response to the President’s XI first innings total of 349. The tourists had reached 222 for five at stumps.