West Indies will seek to continue their recovery when they take on New Zealand in five one-day internationals and two Tests, starting with a limited-overs game at Kingston's Sabina Park on Wednesday (June 5). The series, however, look set to be dogged by bad weather. International cricket is rarely played in the Caribbean in June, when the rainy season has begun. New Zealand landed in Jamaica in the middle of 11 days of heavy rain that prevented the team getting any outdoor practice.

The New Zealand team first set foot outdoors on Sunday, when they trained at Sabina Park. They perhaps wished they hadn't bothered, as Craig McMillan injured his ankle in training and missed Monday's warm-up match against a University of West Indies XI.

New Zealand batted first and were given a thorough examination by the young generation of West Indian bowlers, several of whom will be playing for West Indies A in England this month. However, captain Stephen Fleming scored an elegant 64 and allrounder Scott Styris made a bid for a place in Wednesday's side with an unbeaten 63 as New Zealand scored 254 all out in 50 overs.

In reply, New Zealand pace bowler Shane Bond got his first serious run-out since he broke down with an injured foot at the end of the tour of Australia last December, when he took on and mastered the best Australian batsmen. Bond bowled eight overs, taking 1 for 27, while Daniel Vettori took 3 for 24 as the University team collapsed to 155 all out.

Bond and New Zealand's other bowlers will have to face a West Indies' batting line up that has a new-found backbone in the middle order. Although Brian Lara struggled for form against India, Shivnarine Chanderpaul and skipper Hooper stepped successfully into the breech. Hooper and Chanderpaul featured in a 296-run partnership in the first Test in Guyana, when Hooper hit an impressive 233. They set an example to youngsters like Ramnaresh Sarwan and Wavell Hinds, who also made valuable scores.

West Indies also returned to using a four-pronged seam attack. Although the line-up may have lacked the hostility of former generations of bowlers, bowlers like Merv Dillon and Cameron Cuffy proved themselves more than worthy of their international places.

West Indies (from):
Chris Gayle, Wavell Hinds, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Brian Lara, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Carl Hooper (capt), Ryan Hinds, Ridley Jacobs (wk), Gareth Breese, Pedro Collins, Corey Collymore, Cameron Cuffy, Merv Dillon.

New Zealand (from):
Chris Nevin (wk), Nathan Astle, Lou Vincent, Stephen Fleming (capt), Craig McMillan, Chris Harris, Matt Horne, Jacob Oram, Scott Styris, Daniel Vettori, Matthew Hart, Paul Hitchcock, Daryl Tuffey, Shane Bond, Ian Butler,

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