Bradshaw hopes to avoid slow start

"Coming out of the Carib Beer Series, a lot of the guys would have gotten match practice. The majority of the batsmen, if not all, would have gotten scores under their belts while the bowlers would have gotten through quite a few overs," the left-arm seamer explained yesterday during a break in training at Eden Park, venue of the tour-opening Twenty20 clash with the Black Caps on Thursday night.

"That’s a positive thing. What we’re hoping to do now is to adjust to the conditions."

He added: "Even though we might have performed well back home, it’s still necessary to come here and adapt to these New Zealand conditions. That’s what we are trying to do right now."

Having been forewarned about bitterly cold weather and pitch conditions similar to that in England, the tourists have so far been blessed with ideal temperatures since their arrival in Auckland on Friday.

Their six-hour workout yesterday was conducted in bright sunshine with temperatures around 26 degrees Celsius, although they remain wary that the weather can change very quickly in a city with a reputation for being the wettest of the major cricket venues in New Zealand.

"I’m looking to have a good tour," the 31-year-old Bradshaw stated when asked about his own expectations for the seven-week campaign.

"I believe I worked hard leading up to the Carib Beer Series and due to that hard work I had a good tournament so I have some confidence behind me. I haven’t seen enough of the conditions yet to properly assess what it will and will not do, but whether or not it favours me, I have to be prepared to go out there and do whatever is necessary for the team."

More than a year-and-a-half since he slashed the winning boundary in a pulsating two-wicket win for the West Indies in the final of the Champions’ Trophy against hosts England, Bradshaw remains pragmatic about that achievement and why it has not translated into better performances by the regional side.

"We need to get in those consistent performances day in day out," he emphasised.

"In the Champions’ Trophy, it was only four days of cricket, and we played almost to our best on those four days. On a long tour, however, there are a lot more days of cricket and a lot more hard work has to be done. It’s up to each guy to make sure that he is mentally ready and capable of giving 100 percent day in day out."

Bradshaw noted that the mood in the dressing room has been spiced up by Trinidad and Tobago’s trouncing of Barbados in the deciding final-round match of the regional First-Class competition.

"There is still a lot of banter going around," he said. "Obviously the Trinidadian guys are still basking in the glory of their first title after 21 years."

"We’re going to let them have their moment, but we’re just reminding them that there is still another part of the championship to go and we wouldn’t mind them at all being successful against the Windwards and us doing the business against Guyana so that we can set things right in the final."

That banter, however good-natured, is expected to be reduced to a minimum when the real action begins here, for New Zealand have always been a tough nut for the West Indies to crack, even at the very best of times in the 1970s and ’80s.

Indeed, many here are predicting a similar experience to the Caribbean side’s last tour to these parts in 1999 when the team led by Brian Lara lost all five One-Day Internationals and the two Tests.

Thursday’s Twenty20 duel, the first-ever for the West Indies, precedes another five-match ODI series followed by three Tests.