WestpacTrust Park groundsman Doug Strachan has a problem - he's got a Test match next week and he had rainfall in November that was 250% more than normal, and he got December's usual rainfall at the weekend.

Hardly the most conducive elements in which to prepare a Test pitch.

What is even more disturbing to Strachan is that he will now not have the time to experiment with the pitch which, ultimately, he would like to see without variable bounce on the last three days of the game.

He is confident that if he gets three or four good days before the New Zealand-Bangladesh Test starts on Tuesday that he will still have a good pitch.

"The best pitch I ever had was for the Northern Districts game against Australia two years ago, and I did that in four days.

"I would have liked more time to get the pitch ready and to do some fine tuning to it," he said.

His ideal pitch is one where consistent bounce was there on days three, four and five so that the new ball could get wickets and that spinners could get turn without the inconsistent bounce getting their wickets for them.

"I'm confident about the first two days of games, but would like to know more about the last three days," he said.

And he wants to see batsmen being able to play shots off their back foot and not coming forward looking to negate the uncertainty of the uneven bounce on those last days.

But he hasn't the time to do that this time around and that will have to wait.

He said it was also a shame there were not more Tests played in Hamilton because he learnt so much every time the pitch was used for Tests.

So the pitch for next Tuesday will be the typical pitch from the ground in recent years. It will make bowlers' eyes light up because of the amount of green in it, but that will again be deceptive.

He said that in time he would like to see more captains bat first on the ground and realise there would be disadvantages in batting last on it.

"The rain has been a huge disappointment to me but we will still make a good pitch," he said.

Friday's long range weather forecast is good and that will suit him to start work on the block.

The outfield was saturated, but had come through the winter use by rugby well and he feels certain that fine weather will bring the outfield up dry as well.

Meanwhile, bad weather in Wellington over the last 10 days hasn't hampered preparations for the Test match pitch for the Boxing Day Test at the Basin Reserve.

However, groundsman Trevor Jackson wouldn't want too much more rain as he looks to begin his preparation once the State Championship match between Wellington and Central Districts is finished on Thursday.

"The general preparation is good, but the major concern is that the block has been under cover for so long.

"However, the block is looking very good, the consolidation is good underneath.

"All we need is some good fine weather to bake the wickets off.

"We will work on the surface later this week and next to get it as hard as we can. It has good moisture content," he said.

It was hard to know how the pitch would finish up because there had been only one day out of five on the block so far this season and the pitch then, for the opening day of the game between Wellington and Auckland, had been slow.

© CricInfo