‘As cricketers you need to adapt’: Flexible Black Caps unperturbed

Persistent showers washed out the entirety of day one at the Hampshire Bowl but the possibility of a full five days' play remains thanks to the inclusion of Wednesday as a reserve day.

Latham is confident his team will be ready to go no matter the circumstances.

“It’s disappointing - the rain today, it was forecast unfortunately, but it’s one of those things that as cricketers you need to adapt,” he said after the day one washout.

“It’s something we can’t control, it’s just about waiting and when we get the opportunity to come on, making sure we’re ready.

“The beauty of it is there is day six as well, so there is a little extra time that we can use then. We’ll wait and see and have a look tomorrow."

The veteran batter said the task at hand for New Zealand going forward in the match is to adapt to whatever situation they find themselves in.

“I guess for us it’s just about waiting and trying to adapt to whatever weather conditions we’re facing, whether it’s tomorrow or whenever it may be. It’s important we aren’t caught on the hop and that we’re ready when called upon. We’ve been in this situation many times as cricketers, so it’s about trying to stay ready.

“Looking at conditions and the amount of water that has fallen since yesterday afternoon, there probably wasn’t a huge chance that we were going to play today. So guys have just been trying to relax, there has been a lot of table tennis, a lot of darts being played up in the team room. Guys are pretty relaxed and we’ll have to give it another shot tomorrow and see what happens.”

New Zealand are yet to name their XI for the match, with the decision expected to be made by coach Gary Stead and captain Kane Williamson.