Debate continued today over the state of the Basin Reserve pitch as play went into the second day of the New Zealand-Zimbabwe Test in Wellington.

Complaints about the low, slow dusty wicket have come from all quarters, and the man in the firing line, groundsman Trevor Jackson claimed in The Dominion newspaper today that he was acting to instructions.

New Zealand coach David Trist said he didn't know if Jackson had been reported correctly as there were no direct quotes in the story but he outlined the CLEAR Black Caps stance on the matter.

"The only instruction, if there was one, was via Vaughn Johnson [Wellington coach] and Wellington Cricket," he said.

"What we asked was that the moisture content be about 29-30 which was consistent with the last few Test matches played here.

"Those wickets provided pace, good bounce which provided good entertaining cricket."

Trist said that ground staff at the Basin Reserve and at WestpacTrust Park in Hamilton have produced quality pitches in the middle and on the practice facilities and were world-class.

"From we can draw, the grass fell away quicker than what he would have liked.

"But we had no input into anything, only along those lines.

"We were happy with what we saw as both teams had to play on it," he said.

Some of the criticism, especially in the media, had nothing to do with the Black Caps but developed from the desire to see some positive cricket played in the manner that had come to be expected of the side.

"We like to play positive cricket," he said.

But from the other point of view, good sides had to adapt to all conditions, he added.

The poor quality of the pitch was in marked contrast to that experienced at Lincoln University during the recent CricInfo Women's World Cup tournament.

There, groundsman Karl Johnson not only had to prepare pitches every day after grounds had been exposed to wind and sun for days on end, but also ensure they were of the highest quality.

He achieved that and produced pitches that were acclaimed by all eight sides at the tournament.

The other concern was that the Basin Reserve pitch for this Test was in complete contrast to the last three Tests played at the ground.

For the first Boxing Day Test, against India, in 1998/99 India scored 208 and New Zealand scored 52/1, a total of 260 runs were score.

Last year, against the West Indies, New Zealand scored 263/3 on the first day of the match then later in the summer, Australia scored 29/2 on the rain-affected first day, but went on to score another 287 runs on the second day.

© CricInfo