Such has been the injury rate for both New Zealand and Pakistan it seemed the winner of the first Test starting tomorrow at Eden Park would be the side with most players left standing whenever the end came.

Now, add to that a pitch which has even the experts guessing.

A portable pitch block is being used at Eden Park for the first time, and it has been prepared with the bare minimum of time available, nine and a half weeks.

It has a green look to it, but the grass is young and there is moisture beneath the soil, a problem resulting from a drainage issue from the portable block, and no-one quite knows what to expect.

Groundsman Warwick Sisson said the only thing he was certain of was that no-one's head would be knocked off in the game.

Ironically, the efforts to improve the pitch technology at the ground and remove its reputation for having low, slow bounce, mean that on this occasion that is probably the most favoured characteristic for what will be seen.

Sisson, who admits that when the Eden Park authorities discussed the minimum time that could be given for pitch development, it was his claim that nine and a half weeks would be sufficient, said that whatever happens in the match, it will be the only time it happens.

"This is the future of cricket.

"The pitch will be the flattest, measurement wise, that it has ever been," Sisson said.

"It's been measured more than a hundred times."

Sisson said that if he won the toss he would bat first and take in two spinners.

"It has held the moisture longer than what we wanted and we have some problems to address with the drainage that occurred in the nursery," he said.

"I hope people don't judge the portable concept on this one game," he added.

Eden Park ground chief executive John Alexander said: "We want to provide both of our host sports with the best possible surfaces on which they can play."

Eden Park had adopted Melbourne's Colonial Stadium pitch model and it was taking a lead on health and safety issues in New Zealand sports stadiums by providing a softer surface for rugby and minimising the injuries that players could suffer if falling on a harder cricket block.

"It is only a matter of time before a serious injury occurs and there is no need to have to wait for an accident before doing something about that issue," he said.

Super 12 rugby was played on the ground on Friday night, and the outfield bears some of the scars of that encounter, but Sisson made the point that had it been raining it would have been much worse.

The dual use grounds had so far been lucky that rugby had not been played in wet weather before major cricket events, he said.

© CricInfo