The wind at Wellington’s Basin Reserve can change direction without warning, making it a challenging venue for visiting teams. India’s bowling coach Morne Morkel has offered a simple piece of advice to the Test specialists yet to arrive in New Zealand: prepare to deal with the strong winds before stepping onto the field.India will play a two-match Test series against New Zealand after the ongoing T20I and ODI series. The first Test is scheduled to begin at the Basin Reserve in Wellington on November 18.Morkel’s advice to the players is to “Stand near a powerful fan to counter the speedy wind”, which has troubled visiting teams at the venue for years.“We’ve spoken about Wellington, especially before the start of the tour, and we’ve planted those seeds. I spoke to some of the boys who were back in India last night, and they asked what the conditions are like. I said, ‘Make sure you get a very strong fan at home. When you walk into the fan that is going to be your preparation’,” Morkel said ahead of India’s third T20 International.The Indian team is currently in Wellington, New Zealand’s capital, which is also known as “Windy Wellington”. Wind speeds reached 120 kmph on Monday.Although the third T20I against the Black Caps is scheduled for Tuesday, Morkel and head coach Gautam Gambhir are already looking ahead to the challenges the team could face in the Test series.“This wind is a different beast. I was in the hotel this morning and the whole building was sort of shaking. So I think it’s going to be a new sort of thing that we add to our books for the guys to get used to and accustomed to with a quick turnaround,” Morkel said.He added that India would need to face the conditions without making excuses, as the wind could affect several aspects of the game, including a batter’s stance and position at the crease.“For us, it is looking forward to that challenge and taking it head-on and not really making excuses. This wind can impact a lot of things, it can impact batting, your stance, your crease, it can impact many factors,” Morkel said.The former South Africa fast bowler has experienced the conditions at the Basin Reserve during his playing career. He said adjusting to the wind in just a few days of training was difficult, making it important for players to approach the challenge with the right mindset.“When I toured here with South Africa, we had certain ways that we went about trying to get used to it. I don’t think you can ever get used to it in the space of two, three, or four days. So it comes down to how you’re going to frame the whole situation: you’re either going to see it as a challenge, or you’re going to see it as a negative and let it down.“Hopefully, we can get those guys in a mental space where they look forward to that challenge. At the end of the day, you need somebody to put their hand up and bowl into the wind, because we can’t have four guys bowling off the wind.”New Zealand all-rounder Michael Bracewell is also aware of the problems the conditions can create for visiting teams. He said the hosts would look to make the most of any discomfort their opponents experience.Bracewell pointed out that wind behaves differently at enclosed stadiums, where it can swirl and change direction, compared with more open grounds such as the Basin Reserve.“It is interesting. At closed stadiums, it swirls around a bit, so it’s probably not as consistent as it is when you play in a slightly more open field like the Basin. We had one game here where the cameras got turned off from one end because it was so windy,” Bracewell said.However, he also sees dealing with different conditions as an important part of international cricket, where teams must adapt to the challenges they encounter around the world.“So that’s the joy of playing here is you get faced with different conditions, and that’s the great thing about international cricket. You go all around the world and have to deal with different things.“So it swirls a bit in the stadium, so it’s not necessarily that there’s going to be one end that perhaps if we’re playing in an open sort of stadium that you could target.
