Pitch comments surprise New Zealanders

New Zealand's cricketers heading to Sri Lanka for the Coca-Cola Cup series with the host nation and India have been surprised by comments that pitches are being doctored for the series.

A report out of Sri Lanka said fast bowlers in the Sri Lankan team could look forward to helpful conditions in the tournament, "especially when they play India."

Curators have been asked to leave more grass on the pitches for the Indian game while slower pitches were expected for New Zealand games.

The New Zealand reaction tended to be, "We all know what the reaction would be if we tried that here."

Retiring New Zealand coach David Trist, on his last assignment with the national side, said his first thought was, "could they get it wrong?"

The move, he said, showed that in some countries pitch preparation is a vital part of their play.

It was a strategy that teams learned to accept on the sub-continent.

"We expect matches in the sub-continent to be demanding .

"In Sharjah we competed well against them and I guess it is an acknowledgement that they consider us dangerous," he said.

By contrast, the official attitude in New Zealand was to provide pitches with pace and bounce to allow an even contest between both sides.

It was surprising, Trist said, and from an international perspective it was disappointing.

Despite that, Trist was looking forward to the tournament in which Sri Lanka was looking towards South Africa and the World Cup in 2003, an exercise that is also occupying New Zealand minds.