Almost three months on from the final Test against South Africa, we can now start looking forward to the West Indies tour.
Starting June 30 with a Twenty20 match in Miami Florida, the hype surrounding the tour has finally started to get into full swing. Coach John Wright is as impatient as the rest of New Zealand for it to get under way, but believes the break will have benefitted the squad.
“I think we’re all looking forward to it,” Wright said.
“The challenge will be for us to get over there, get some practise in Miami and compete.
“They’ll go in fresh.”
Fresh for sure, but that’s not to say a number of BLACKCAPS haven’t been involved in the game lately either.
While a number of players were involved in the high profile IPL, many other New Zealand players took their talents elsewhere.
Martin Guptill and Kane Williamson have both excelled in the English County Cricket Competition, while Dean Brownlie enjoyed a stint in Perth. Kruger van Wyk played in Scotland and Neil Wagner in South Africa.
It may keep them involved in cricket during the break, but Wright concedes it certainly makes it a lot harder to communicate with everyone in the team. He acknowledges there are ways to get round this.
“It’s a little bit problematic in some ways, and that’s why we’ll be in Miami about five days,” Wright said.
“You’ve really got to hit the ground running and hope there’s no hiccups, but it’s the modern day way.
“You just have to practise with a bit of purpose under good conditions and mentally you can do quite a lot because of the expectation of getting the mind up ready to play.”
And what is it that is motivating Wright for this tour?
“I think everything’s a motivator really.
“It’d be great to get a series win away from home, I know I’d particularly personally enjoy that and I know the team would as well.“
Not mention there might be a few happy supporters as well...
