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New Zealanders arrive in Bombay

"This will be a very tough tour, where we will have our work cut-out," said Stephen Fleming, captain of the New Zealand cricket team which arrived at the Shiv Chatrapati international airport in Bombay this morning by an Air India flight, three hours behind schedule.

Fleming said: "The team has come along well in the last few years and the players have earned some valuable experience, though we are still a young team."

On the team's preparations for the tour, Fleming said, "We just returned to New Zealand about 20 days back after a four-month-long tour of England."

About his own form, Fleming said he was looking looking forward to playing well in India.. "I have a good opportunity, and playing spin will be a challenge," he added.

Though satisfied with the itinerary, he said the boys were a little dissapointed at not playing at the Eden Gardens, Calcutta.

On the change in the coach and manager at a time when they had recently won a historic series in England, Fleming said this is a good time for transition. We have to move ahead."

Coach David Tirst felt Daniel Vettori could be his match-winner. "We are also looking at Wiseman to contribute quite a bit on this tour, '' he said, adding "Nash and Cairns have also come along very well and are bowling well in tandem and with a lot of fire power which will be needed if we have to win in India."

Tirst, however, felt a lot of work still needed to be done. Though he was more than satisfied with the itinerary, he said, "The rains in Bombay are a little bit of a setback."

New Zealand will open their tour with a three-day game against the India 'A' side in Pune from September 30 to October 2. They are scheduled to play three Tests and five one-dayers besides two warm-up matches.

The New Zealand squad:
Stephen Fleming (captain), Matthew Horne, Matthew Bell, Nathan Astle, Adam Parore, Chris Cairns, Chris Harris, Chris Drum, Craig McMillan, Craig Spearman, Dion Nash, Andrew Penn, Shayne O'Connor, Paul Wiseman, Daniel Vettori. Manager: Jeff Crowe. Coach: David Tirst. Computer analyst: Peter Mayell. Physio: Mark Harrison. Players' analyst: Gilbert Enkola. Technical adviser: Ashley Ross.

UNI