Music has become part of the "atmosphere" at big cricket events nowadays in New Zealand and with that in mind there could be only one song as the theme for the second National Bank Test between New Zealand and India.

Tom Jones' standard, "Green Green Grass of Home" would win hands down.

It could be said that a little piece of the Emerald Isle of Ireland best represents the strip that has been prepared for the match. New Zealanders would say it is the colour of West Coast jade.

Groundsman Doug Strachan was hoping for a day of sunshine to allow him to get his final preparation onto the pitch today, but Hamilton's skies could not oblige and there have been passing showers all day.

So the sideways movement is likely to be a factor yet again and it is little wonder that Indian captain Sourav Ganguly has been hoping he can get his coin-calling right at the toss.

He, like his rival captain Stephen Fleming, would bowl first, and there was enough poor batting from the New Zealand middle-order to encourage him in the view that putting New Zealand in would go a long way towards having his bowlers secure the 20 wickets they need to win the match.

You could tell though, that when he attended his pre-Test conference with the media today, Ganguly was long tired of talking about green pitches with lots of bounce and sideways movement.

India knew they had to get their heads around the challenge that such conditions set. He wasn't blaming the pitch in Wellington for his side's 10-wicket loss last weekend.

"The wicket wasn't responsible. It did a bit, but it was not unplayable," he said.

Ganguly recalled that when India played at Hamilton last in the summer of 1998/99, the wicket was a good one and all he asked of a pitch was that there was something in it for the bowlers on the first morning, good conditions for batsmen on days two, three and four, and then a chance for the spinners to get involved on the last day.

There had been a lot of rain about in New Zealand this summer and there wasn't a lot that anyone could do about it, it was just a case of getting on with the cricket.

"If it is green it is green. If it is bouncy it is bouncy. We just have to adapt. Let's not worry about the wicket. Let's play Test match cricket on it and we'll see how it goes," he said.

India are going to name their side at the last possible moment but there is every sign that Tinu Yohannan will come into the side for his third Test match, probably in place of Ajit Agarkar.

Fleming wants to use his own bowling armoury to put the pressure on India but knows that another crucial requirement is, especially if he loses the toss and New Zealand are put in to bat, that runs will be vital.

And while he does want a better batting performance, what he most wants is to have enough runs in the middle-order for his bowlers to have the comfort to bowl India out twice.

New Zealand would not be tempted to bolster their attack by dropping left-arm spinner Daniel Vettori for a fast-medium bowler which probably meant Michael Mason would carry the drinks again.

"We have a quality spinner which gives us an option towards the end of the Test. If it is won in two or three days then so be it. I still think we have to have bases covered," he said.

Had the first Test gone the distance, it would have been very interesting to see what influence off-spinner Harbhajan Singh had on the outcome, Fleming added.

The New Zealand captain made no apologies for promoting bounce in this country's wickets.

A few groundsmen in New Zealand had done a fantastic job in getting bounce into wickets and it was unfortunate that the weather over the last month had affected the pitches to the point where there was more sideways movement than preferred.

"I like the way our wickets are heading. I don't, as a batsman, particularly like the seam movement, but I'm loving the bounce and I think it is exciting cricket," he said.

Fleming explained that having the bounce allowed batsmen an opportunity to score square of the wicket but, more importantly, it gave the bowlers an opportunity throughout the game to get something from the pitch.

"Sometime, in a lot of Test matches in a lot of places around the world it is pretty dominated by the bat and we're used to that to a point. But, I think, if both parties apply themselves you get a wicket that is conducive and you get a much better package and the entertainment value is going to improve," he said.

The teams are:

New Zealand: Stephen Fleming (captain), Mark Richardson, Lou Vincent, Craig McMillan, Nathan Astle, Scott Styris, Jacob Oram, Robbie Hart, Daniel Vettori, Daryl Tuffey, Shane Bond, Michael Mason.

India (from): Sourav Ganguly (captain), Virender Sehwag, Sanjay Bangar, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, V V S Laxman, Parthiv Patel, Ajit Agarkar, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Tinu Yohannan, Ashish Nehra.

© Cricinfo