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Ross Taylor - Source: Photosport -
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Test match cricket is coming to a town near you this month. Bring a blanket. And a snorkel.
The three-Test series against India, beginning on Wednesday in Hamilton before moving on to Napier and Wellington, will take us further into the rainy season than any international series ever played in New Zealand.
Frustrated viewers may end up spending more time watching replays of Craig McMillan and Simon Doull's heroics against India at the Basin Reserve in 1998 than any live cricket action.
Unfortunately, that could also represent the only chance they'll have of watching a New Zealand Test victory over India this "summer".
Such is India's superiority over the home team at the moment that they probably feel they could lose two whole days to rain and still comfortably finish the Test off in the other three.
The Test form of the two teams could not be more contrasting. India are the toast of world cricket after comfortably dispatching Australia and England at the end of last year.
In the past 12 months, the Black Caps have endured home and away beatings by England, an embarrassingly close call in Bangladesh, a two-test thrashing in Australia and a disappointing home stalemate against the West Indies.
On paper it should a doddle for the Indians. Recent history, however, tells us that the Black Caps like to save their best performances for when nothing is expected of them, while the tourists have a tendency to do the opposite.
Only the Indians will know how heavily the memory of their last tour to New Zealand weighs on their mind. That was back in 2002/3, when they were pulverised by New Zealand's pacemen on green, seaming wickets in Wellington and Hamilton.
Four batting survivors - Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman, who tallied a combined 298 runs at 18.6 in that series - will line up in Hamilton. They may possess greater mental fortitude under coach Gary Kirsten, but the prospect of batting first under grey skies against the swinging ball may be enough to send momentary flashbacks through their system.
Captain Daniel Vettori will know that everything has to go right for his side to have a chance in this series. He'll also know from his predecessor Stephen Fleming that with a combination of clever, disciplined bowling and astute field placings, even the most dangerous batsmen in world cricket can be made to look foolish.
The brainstrust will surely have studied each Indian batsman meticulously, on tape and in the flesh, searching for avenues to unlock their massively talented batting line up. They should already know that Sehwag is a batsman who hates being tied down by tight bowling and can be "choked" into giving away his wicket.
Rahul Dravid is not as fleet-of-foot as he used to be and hence is more susceptible to nicking into the cordon. Even Test cricket's most prolific batsman, Sachin Tendulkar, has been made to look fallible by short bowling directed at his body.
To rattle the much-vaunted Indian batting line up, the Black Caps need to pick bowlers who can attack, not just contain.
With Shane Bond unavailable, veteran Chris Martin should be the first man picked. He is the best strike bowler available and understands the value of breaking eggs to make an omelette: he will pitch the ball up and get driven for a few runs but will back himself to find the outside edge eventually. The fact that India has never faced him before can only work to his advantage.
Vettori and Iain O'Brien will be the other automatic selections - although worryingly for the latter, the Indians dealt with him savagely during the ODIs - and James Franklin will contribute some overs, having appeared to take Jacob Oram's all-rounder spot by default.
The final bowling place will go to either Kyle Mills, Jeetan Patel or the uncapped Brent Arnel. Mills would probably be the safe option but the danger is that he'll become cannon fodder if the pitch isn't helping him.
Patel bowled superbly against England in Hamilton last summer, and if the pitch looks likely to take spin then he may get the nod to partner Vettori with the old ball.
Even if the bowling department looks sorely lacking the strike power to knock India over cheaply, it's hoped that the batsmen can at least match their counterparts' big totals. In Flynn, Taylor, Ryder and the debutant Guptill, the Black Caps have the nucleus of what could be a solid top six for the best part of a decade.
The Indian bowling attack looks threatening but by no means deadly, and the added carrot of a juicy IPL contract should be all the motivation the youngsters need to perform.
The real highlight for true cricket fans, however, should be the batting mastery on display from India's top seven. Tendulkar, Dravid and Laxman will likely making their final bow on our shores and accordingly they should be warmly welcomed by the local crowds to whom they have provided many thrills over the years.
Black Caps fans will be hoping the departure of these giants will coincide with the arrival of the likes of Taylor, Guptill and Ryder as world world class batsmen. If they do, there's every chance New Zealand will be competitive.
Nevertheless, the smart money has to be on India to take out a comfortable series win. Though perhaps the smarter money would be on rain, more rain, and a 0-0 series draw.
Likely teams:
New Zealand: Tim McIntosh, Martin Guptill, Daniel Flynn, Ross Taylor, Jesse Ryder, Brendon McCullum (wk), James Franklin, Daniel Vettori (capt), Jeetan Patel, Iain O'Brien, Chris Martin.
India: Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Yuvraj Singh, MS Dhoni (capt, wk), Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Amit Mishra, Ishant Sharma.
