Close Play called off due to bad weather The elements conspired to wipe out the first day's play at Westpac Park in Hamilton. The day started well enough, with clear skies and fair weather, though dampness in both the pitch and the outfield prevented a prompt start. But as the day wore on, the weather worsened, the dark clouds gathered menacingly overhead and the outfield refused to dry.

After a final inspection at 2.30pm, the umpires decided to call off play for the day. An hour of play will be made up on each of the subsequent days, provided the weather Gods relent. As a result, the teams haven't been announced though it's almost certain that New Zealand will go into this one unchanged. India will bring in Tinu Yohannan for Ashish Nehra, with Shiv Sunder Das a slim outside bet to replace Wellington pair man, VVS Laxman.

Teams (probable)
New Zealand 1 Mark Richardson, 2 Lou Vincent, 3 Stephen Fleming (capt), 4 Craig McMillan, 5 Nathan Astle, 6 Scott Styris, 7 Jacob Oram, 8 Robbie Hart (wk), 9 Daniel Vettori, 10 Daryl Tuffey, 11 Shane Bond.

India 1 Sanjay Bangar, 2 SS Das, 3 Rahul Dravid, 4 Sachin Tendulkar, 4 Sourav Ganguly (capt), 6 Virender Sehwag, 7 Parthiv Patel (wk), 8 Ajit Agarkar, 9 Harbhajan Singh, 10 Zaheer Khan, 11 Tinu Yohannan.

Dileep Premachandran is assistant editor of Wisden.com in India.

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