Williamson and Sodhi to play in Wellington Test

Cricket365
December 10, 2013

Captain Brendon McCullum has confirmed the inclusion of batsman Kane Williamson and leg-spinner Ish Sodhi in New Zealand's XI for the second Test against the West Indies, which will get underway at the Basin Reserve in Wellington on Wednesday.

Williamson has recovered from the thumb injury that sidelined him from the series opener, while Sodhi will be retained despite the green, fast nature of the pitch, which has suggested the selection of an all-pace attack.

"You've got to wonder if three quicks can't get it done then whether four will. With the all-rounder we probably have enough with three plus Corey Anderson. We just have to work out that balance of the three," said McCullum.

The last 10 Test matches have seen six decisions to bowl first, with the trend likely to continue this week, as McCullum targets early inroads against an opposition order smarting from the absence of the injured Chris Gayle.

"It certainly does have a rather green tinge to it. We saw in the first Test our bowlers are certainly capable of extracting the most value out of those wickets. If the coin falls the right way then we'll get first use of it and I'm confident our bowlers will bowl that natural fuller length and hopefully we'll present a tough challenge to the West Indies batsmen," he added.

The first match of the thee-Test affair ended in a rain-affected draw at the University Oval in Dunedin, where former Black Caps captain Ross Taylor and Windies left-hander Darren Bravo scored fine double-centuries.

"There was disappointment we weren't able to wrap it up, but we looked objectively and said we played some really good cricket. Whilst that's not always what's going to be discussed in the media and around the traps, you've got to be strong as a group to know you're performing pretty well and we're not far away from getting test wins," concluded McCullum.