The New Zealanders believe that the two Tests versus England would serve as ideal preparation for the World Test Championship final versus India in Southampton from June 18.
Having said that, how they execute and counter the Dukes ball will also be an important factor. Their quicks, being crucial to the team’s success in the longest format, are quite upbeat when it comes to proper execution of the Dukes ball in English conditions, emphasised young Kyle Jamieson.
“The experience of guys like Tim, Wags, Doug (Bracewell) and even (Matt) Henry as well will be really helpful as they have played a lot over here in England,” Jamieson said during an interaction on Wednesday.
“There’s so much experience around English conditions and what the Dukes ball can do. So I’ll try and look and lean on that .”
The last time New Zealand played India in Tests, in the 2019-20 season at home, they won the series comfortably with their quicks rattling India’s batting line-up with the Kookaburra.
“The Dukes is certainly a bit different. It’s a bit darker and harder as well, and the seam is a little bit narrower. So it’s just about trying to get used to that and the hands,” he said.
Jamieson, in fact, had planned to bowl with the Dukes at the backend of this year’s IPL during Royal Challengers Bangalore’s nets. Captain Virat Kohli had almost tricked Jamieson into bowling to him with the Dukes at nets .
“We were talking generally about cricket, having played against each other 12 months before,” Jamieson said last week about his interactions with Kohli at RCB.
“He was asking me if I had played in England and what his own experiences had been there. But no specifics. We went our ways with a sort of parting jibe — ‘See you in a month’s time’.”
India’s spin threat
New Zealand are also wary of the Indian spinners. “India have a very good seam attack and also have the experienced spinners like Ashwin and Jadeja. They have been consistent in all parts of the world and bring quality to their attack,” said Henry Nicholls.