Tony Becca, Senior Sport Editor
IN THE 50 years since the West Indies and New Zealand first matched skills on the cricket field, the West Indies have won five of the 10 series and New Zealand have won two.
While the West Indies have won at home and away, however, New Zealand have never tasted victory away from home and manager Jeff Crowe is hoping that the Kiwis, who won both matches at home in 1999-2000, will deliver this time around.
"It would be nice to win here, and we can do it," said Crowe yesterday. "We have a lovely blend of young players and senior players, we have quality batsmen in Nathan Astle, Craig McMillan and in our captain Stephen Fleming.
"There is also Chris Harris, and the promising young players include wicketkeeper Lou Vincent who bats at the top of the order and scored a century on his debut, pacers Shane Bond, Ian Butler and Daryl Tuffey.
"Left-arm spinner Daniel Vettori is an exciting talent and well respected around the world. He will tell you that he has not had the success that he would have liked, and he has had a problem with his back. He has recovered, however, he should be OK now, and he is looking forward to this series. He should do well."
According to the former New Zealand captain and star batsman, the Kiwis are looking forward to a great, competitive series.
"The West Indies are playing well. They just had a good series against India. We watched a bit of it. They certainly are a different side to the one that toured New Zealand two years ago. We know that, and we are prepared for that.
"We know that Mervyn Dillon and your other fast bowlers are more experienced than they were two years ago and therefore must be better cricketers. They are going to be good because they have that much more time under their belts and they showed it against the Indians. You know, although they may not be a Garner, a Holding or a Marshall, they are still good bowlers, and we have a lot of respect for what they are and what they do.
"They bowl with good pace, they get the ball to bounce, and we have to be careful that we don't underrate them, that we give them full respect and prepare and bat in a Test innings like you should."
Are your batsmen looking forward to taking on the West Indies fast bowlers in their own backyard?
"Well, we have heard the talk about the pitches being slower these days, but even apart from that, batsmen these days don't fear bowlers as they used to do. On top of that, our guys are just coming off facing Shoaib Akhtar in Lahore and that was fast, pretty fast. Your guys do not compare with that sort of speed so the batsmen will have time to adjust - to play shots."
The big difference in the West Indies team, said Crowe, was the batting.
"You have Lara, Chanderpaul is batting well, and so too is Hooper. He is in superb form. He is among the best today. As a captain, he is an inspiration to the guys, he is highly respected and highly rated, he is playing how he wants to play, and he is doing what our captain is doing. He is leading from the front.
"It should be a lovely series, it should be a good contest, it should be quite close, and we are determined to play attractive cricket."
One player who could really make it attractive and exciting, one man who should play some shots, is Astle - the batsman who not only scored 125 at Kensington Oval and 103 at the Antigua Recreation Ground in the two Test matches of 1996 but who also blasted 11 sixes and 28 fours while scoring 222 in 231 minutes off 168 deliveries against England at Christchurch in March.
"I have listened to it many times since, I have watched it many times since, and I am still lost for words. When you see that sort of exhibition of striking a cricket ball - it was extraordinary, really. He is a glorious striker of the ball, but for someone to strike it so hard, so consistently, so continuously for so long was unbelievable."
