Sylhet wickets ‘greener’ than New Zealand expected, says Phillips
New Zealand have recalled the likes of Mitchell Santner and Rachin Ravindra keeping in mind the conditions. Glenn Phillips, who was a handy spin-bowling option for the Black Caps in the World Cup, has been called up to the Test side after a gap of nearly four years.
New Zealand are set to play a two-match Test series against Bangladesh starting November 28 and ahead of that, the visitors started training at the Sylhet International Cricket Stadium on Thursday.
New Zealand have recalled the likes of Mitchell Santner and Rachin Ravindra keeping in mind the conditions. Glenn Phillips, who was a handy spin-bowling option for the Black Caps in the World Cup, has been called up to the Test side after a gap of nearly four years.
New Zealand have only three frontline quicks - captain Tim Southee, Kyle Jamieson and Neil Wagner - in the squad which means the XI should be spin-heavy.
Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel
After New Zealand's first practice session, Phillips told the media that the wickets in Sylhet are "greener" than they expected.
"It was great to be out there. The wickets here are greener than we thought they were going to be, but they spun nonetheless. Boys got a bat and bowl. So happy days."
The Test series will mark the start of New Zealand's new World Test Championship (WTC) campaign. In the first edition of it, they beat India in the final to become champions but could not quite live up to the expectations in the next cycle.
"The new Test Championship is fantastic. The boys want to go out there, enjoy the process and get as many wins as possible under the belt," Phillips said.
