The captains of New Zealand and India are hoping for a decent batting pitch in Napier for the second one-day international on Sunday after bowlers dominated the opening encounter.
The ‘drop-in' pitch used in Auckland for the first match on Thursday left New Zealand skipper Stephen Fleming and his Indian counterpart Sourav Ganguly scratching their heads.
New Zealand won the opener of a seven-match series by three wickets, but two dire batting displays -- India's 108 and New Zealand's 109 for seven -- were put down to the variable bounce.
Both skippers denounced that pitch, the third track on the New Zealand tour where both batting sides had struggled, and the bowlers have dominated so much that while Fleming said negativity had plagued both sets of batsmen, the bowlers may be getting an inflated opinion of their own ability.
"We are definitely looking for a consistent batting surface to get consistency in our batting," Fleming told reporters on Saturday. "The surfaces should be getting better the further south we go on the tour. We always expect Napier to be a good batting strip because of the generally sunny weather here."
India played their first match of the tour at McLean Park and while they were beaten on the first innings by Central Districts on that occasion, their 209 was by far their highest score to date.
Their second, rain shortened innings, was looking good at 191 for three, with Sanjay Bangar, Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar hitting half-centuries, a feast compared with the famine since.
Ganguly said on Saturday that he was getting frustrated with the pitches, but conceded the Indians were all professional and had to get used to whatever surface was thrown at them.
"I haven't seen the pitch, but I saw a photograph in the local paper yesterday," he said. "I realise the pitch is making more news than the cricket here."
The Indian skipper did have some good news regarding the three injuries that depleted the team in Auckland.
Tendulkar's ankle injury will undergo a fitness test on the morning of the match, but he should be cleared to play, and Sanjay Bangar (knee) and Harbhajan Singh (hand) were both fit and were likely to take part.
Ganguly said just one spinner would be used in the match, which means Anil Kumble could be unlucky to miss out after testing the New Zealand batsmen in Auckland for nought for 15 off seven overs, and Ganguly conceded it would be a "tough call".
If Tendulkar was available, Ganguly said the batting order would be shuffled but he backed the inclusion of opener Sehwag, whose seven appearances on tour have brought very modest scores - the highest being just 62.
"Because he's been successful before and everybody has been struggling in this series and in South Africa [for the World Cup] he has to open," he said, adding that his team was "more or less settled" for the World Cup and did not envisage any changes before the December 31 selection deadline.
New Zealand looked settled and have no injury worries, but there are rumours suggesting that fast bowler Shane Bond may be rested for this match despite being a certainty for the party travelling to South Africa.