After a long wait the BLACKCAPS have finally arrived in Miami to open their tour of the West Indies with two Twenty20 matches.
It will be the second time a New Zealander team will have played at Central Broward Regional Park in Florida, after two matches against Sri Lanka in 2010.
As the team prepare for the first match this Saturday, left-arm spinner Ronnie Hira is excited by the prospect of putting on a thrilling display for the American crowd, but stresses the importance of taking the games seriously.
“The ground is of international quality” said Hira.
“Ten thousand tickets sold so that’s a pretty good turnout. With another few thousand up for grabs over sort of half a week leading into the game we’re hoping it will be a good atmosphere, get out there and put a good show on.
“(The) Previous two games here were more an exhibition, but this is serious stuff.”
Serious indeed. Not only will it be important in terms of momentum for the rest of the tour, it also provides a chance to start building for the World Twenty20 Tournament later this year.
As for how much they know about the conditions, Hira admits that they can only speculate at this stage, although the West Indies are likely to be in the same position.
“We’ve been out to the venue twice. I actually haven’t seen the deck itself, It’s been under covers,” said Hira.
“The two practise decks beside it look good and with the West Indies and ourselves training on them over the next few days we’ll get an actual idea of what the pitch is going play like.”
Whatever the circumstances the BLACKCAPS will be desperate to get their tour off to a positive start. In terms of the cricket that lies ahead of them, nothing could be more important than to find their winning ways early.
First match is on Saturday.