-
Ross Taylor's future as captain of the Black Caps is under a cloud with rumours swirling he is considering handing over the limited overs captaincy to Brendon McCullum after the tour of Sri Lanka. - Source: Reuters
Batsmen are set to struggle again in Pallekele as the Black Caps take on Sri Lanka in the first One Day International tomorrow morning (NZT).
Rain put both teams out of their misery in the only Twenty20 yesterday on a soggy pitch that will be giving the New Zealand batting line-up nightmares.
The Black Caps slumped to 28/6 before eventually reaching 74/7 from their rain reduced 14 overs, a mark captain Ross Taylor believes would have been competitive given the shocking conditions.
Sri Lanka were 6/0 when play was finally abandoned and Taylor said they still felt they were in the game.
"I feel sorry for the groundsman, it wasn't an ideal wicket for a Twenty20 match and was very damp," Taylor told reporters.
"In saying that, we didn't apply ourselves as well as we would have liked, But it was a tough wicket to score on and it shows you what kind of wicket it was when we set them 71in 14 overs and I think that would have been a tough chase and we would have still been in the match as well."
Given the conditions, the team that wins the toss is sure to bowl first, but Taylor didn't believe it would be an impossible task if they were sent into bat.
"It will be difficult for whatever team does bat first, but if you can get a good total on the board under lights here it could be a little bit difficult as well.
"It's going to be tough, but in Twenty20 obviously you've got a short period of time to score as many runs as possible. 50 overs, you don't have to go out there and play as attacking and it's about absorbing all that pressure up front with the bat and keeping wickets in hand."
Ultimately rain could have the final say again with the forecast not promising and a game at least shortened by the weather looks probable. However Taylor remained optimistic.
"It is going to be tough work, but you never know the sun might come out tomorrow morning and bake that wicket and it could be a totally different wicket so we've just got to be flexible."
Meanwhile young fast bowler Adam Milne has been ruled out of the match by illness.