Hyderabad, Aug 19: After a forgettable tour to the West Indies, New Zealand are keen to turn things around in their favour in India. Under the tutelage of their new coach Mike Hesson the Black Caps are looking forward to take on India in their own backyard. Ahead of the two-Test series, Tim Southee, James Franklin and Doug Bracewell had a brief chat with the media here earlier today.
Excerpts from their media interaction:
On the series
Tim Southee: It is going to be a tough series. It is always tough to come over here and play against a very strong side. It’s exciting and the players are looking forward to it. We have come from a disappointing series in the West Indies and everyone is hoping for a turnaround. There are guys in the squad that toured here a couple of years ago. Hopefully we can look back on those experiences. We have guys that haven’t played Test cricket over here but, it is always exciting to come here and play India in India and especially in Test matches.
On how they plan to turn things around
James Franklin: We can’t worry about what went on in the Caribbean. It’s a new series and a new venue and we also have a new coach. We have to worry about what is here for us and its Test match cricket starting on Thursday here in Hyderabad. We are preparing here for the next couple of days to hit Day 1 [on a positive note] and hope to win Day 1 and that’s what we are going to focus on at the moment.
On targets for himself
Doug Bracewell: A Test win will be No. 1 [target]. We didn’t do well in the Caribbean and we are looking to turn that around and we have got two new coaches and the first priority is to get a win under the belt and we will go from there.
On whether the lack of practice matches will affect them
A lot of the guys have played cricket whether it is county cricket or on the tour of Caribbean. The guys had a week at home to sort of freshen up and we are going to start training so there is no disadvantage of not having more games. There is plenty of time till the Test to train and we have come off playing some cricket.
