New Zealand v West Indies, 2nd Test - MATCH PREVIEW

New Zealand will take on West Indies for the 2nd Test to be played in Basin Reserve, Wellington on Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2013.The match will start at 9:30 p.m. GMT (10:30 a.m. local).

After a fighting come back by West Indies in first test, first test match was drawn between the two and both teams have it all to play for in the second test match. The weather looks fine with the rain looks to clear up before the start of play. A cool temperatures with a few clouds around for most of the Test is expected. The pitch in Wellington for the second Test match is expected to be a lot different from the one in Dunedin, which was pretty flat and did not offer too much help for the pace bowlers. The pitch at the Basin Reserve is generally greenish in colour and given the time of the year, it’s going to be a bit damp and will assist seam bowling.

New Zealand with a good pace attack will surely be the favorites here. New Zealand will welcome the return of Kane Williamson, who missed the first Test with a finger injury. Williamson will replace Aaron Redmond in the side with that particular change expected to be the only one. Tino Best and Shannon Gabriel are the only fast bowling hopes for the West Indies side. Darren Sammy comeback form and Darren Bravo may prove effective at that condition.

In the previous match, the West Indies were outplayed for the first two days, but they bounced back and dug in deep to put up a fight all thanks to a brilliant double hundred from Darren Bravo, stubborn batting from Darren Sammy, and rain to deny them the opportunity.

"It’s going to be totally different than Dunedin. As a bowler I do enjoy coming here; a lot more pace and bounce and it does swing here," Kiwi pacer Trent Boult was quoted as saying. McCullum said. "They put in a tremendous amount of work over the last few days and I couldn’t ask for any more than what they’ve given. The wicket flattened out quite a bit like we knew it would at some point.
"We didn’t probably expect the West Indies to negate our bowlers as much as they did for as long as they did and you’ve got to give credit to them for doing so."

Probable Squads:

New Zealand: Brendon McCullum (c), Trent Boult, Peter Fulton, Hamish Rutherford, Tim Southee, Neil Wagner, Kane Williamson, Corey Anderson, DougBracewell, Aaron Redmond, Ish Sodhi, Ross Taylor, BJ Watling (wk)

West Indies: Darren Sammy (c), Tino Best, Darren Bravo, Sheldon Cottrell, Kirk Edwards, Veerasammy Permaul, Marlon Samuels, Chadwick Walton (wk), DeneshRamdin, Kraigg Brathwaite, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Narsingh Deonarine, Shannon Gabriel, Kieran Powell, Shane Shillingford.