WELLINGTON: A green Basin Reserve wicket was welcomed by New Zealand’s Tim Southee after his recent exertions against Pakistan on dry, low and slow pitches in the UAE, but the paceman was quick to point out that looks can often be deceiving.

New Zealand open their domestic Test season against Sri Lanka on Saturday and were greeted by a verdant strip at the country’s most historic ground, where sides that win the toss tend to try and exploit the seamer-friendly conditions.

However, Neil Wagner used a short-pitched barrage to set up the hosts’ victory against West Indies last December, while South African spinners J.P. Duminy and Keshav Maharaj ran through New Zealand in the first innings in March 2017.

Two months earlier against Bangladesh, New Zealand captain Kane Williamson opted to field, but watched his bowlers toil for almost two days before Mushfiqur Rahim declared the innings closed at 595-8.

“It’s nice to be back in conditions we’re used to,” Southee told reporters. “We’ve come from a place that wasn’t easy for pace bowlers, so there was a bit of a spring in the step of the fast bowlers anyway.

“It’s nice to see some grass on the wicket but... we don’t know what it’s going to play like until we get out there. You can get in and it can be a batting paradise as well.”

New Zealand enter the two-match series, their first at home under new coach Gary Stead, flying high after they beat Pakistan in an away series for the first time in almost 50 years.

Published in Dawn, December 14th, 2018