WEST INDIES fast bowling icon Joel Garner believes the upcoming Test series between New Zealand and West Indies will be an evenly contested affair.
Garner, the Barbados Cricket Association president and West Indies Cricket Board director, said with both teams eyeing a move up the Test rankings, he expected them to play tough cricket.
"Both teams are trying to get up the ladder. I donÕt think either team would be prepared to just turn up and not perform," the Sunday News quoted Garner as saying. "At the end of the day, both teams are going to try to win the Test series and will want to do well because they want to see their rankings improve. Because of that the quality of the cricket played is going to be more important than anything else."
The West Indies will clash with the Black Caps in two Tests, starting December 11 in Dunedin, with the second Test scheduled for Napier beginning on December 19. The regional side is eighth in the ICC Test rankings, one spot behind the Kiwis. Both teams will be seeking to enhance their positions on the table with a series win.
Garner, a member of the fearsome pace battery of the West Indies team during their halcyon era, advised the Black Caps not to get too strung up on the fact that Chris Gayle, Ramnaresh Sarwan and Shivnarine Chanderpaul outstrip their peers in experience.
ŌGayle, Chanderpaul and Sarwan are the three leading players, but at the same time you canÕt say these are the three players the West Indies have to depend on,Ķ said Garner, who grabbed 259 wickets in 58 Tests between 1977 and 1987.
ŌThis is a fairly balanced team. There are 15 players on the tour and if they all play together then IÕm sure the results will come. If you start looking at individuals thatÕs when you get problems.Ķ