Moles puts Twenty20 faith in preparation

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The Black Caps will prepare for the Twenty20 World Cup by spending a fortnight at Sir John Paul Getty's palatial cricket ground just out of London.

The four New Zealand-based players and coach Andy Moles leave Auckland tomorrow and will be joined in England by other team members as they complete their Indian Premier tournament and local league commitments.

Moles believes that having left nothing to chance in preparation gives New Zealand the best chance of winning the tournament.

New Zealand will be first to arrive and appears to have the most comprehensive buildup, with warmup matches against an English-based selection of Kiwis, Ireland, Holland, Bangladesh and possibly the West Indies before the official lead-in games against Australia and India.

"A lot of thought has gone into the preparation for this tournament and we hope that it will be rewarded," Moles said yesterday.

The former Warwickshire cricketer used his English contacts to access the grand Getty ground at Wormsley, which is based on Lord's, set deep in the heart of leafy Buckinghamshire, an hour north of London.

"It's a tremendous facility. We are inside the private estate and there are wonderful facilities including nets and the ground for our buildup," he said.

Moles, along with team management comprising Dave Currie and Roger Mortimer, has determined that the 12 days New Zealand will spend there will be beneficial not only in acclimatising but uniting the group. "It will be good to get everyone together so they are tuned to our way of thinking."

Seven will arrive from South Africa as their teams are eliminated from the IPL. They are: Daniel Vettori, Brendon McCullum, Kyle Mills, Ross Taylor, Jacob Oram, Jesse Ryder and Scott Styris.

Iain O'Brien and James Franklin will join the group next week after a round of English county play, while Ian Butler and Peter McGlashan join from league cricket in England.

The players left in New Zealand have not been idle, with Blenheim-based Brendon Diamanti, Otago's Nathan McCullum and Neil Broom plus Martin Guptill (Auckland) spending the past week honing their skills outdoors in Brisbane.

Moles said Butler and McGlashan had been benefited from work alongside South African bowling great Allan Donald at Warwickshire and ex-England gloveman Jack Russell.

Moles has been polishing his own coaching skills, spending a week watching highly regarded former Australian coach John Buchanan go about his business for the Kolkata Knight Riders.

The coach said New Zealand had as much chance of winning the tournament as anyone, given the game's abbreviated nature.

"We have plenty of match-winners with bat and ball; it's a matter of them performing as consistently as possible. This is our strongest squad possible so there are no excuses."

- © Fairfax NZ News