New Zealand cricket team coach Mark Greatbatch has said there has been no request from his team to turn the Basin Reserve here into a dustbowl for the first test against Australia, starting on Friday.

He said that any Australian fears that the pitch would be dried out to assist spinners Daniel Vettori and Jeetan Patel are off the mark.

"No, not at all. With a 13-man squad we've got that cover with our four seamers and two spinners so we need to see how the pitch unfolds over the next few days," the Dominion Post quoted Greatbatch, as saying.

"It's normally a wonderful test strip here so we're looking forward to it and we're excited about the game," he added.

"We're going to bowl a certain way to them. We don't have any nasty fasties so we're going to need to be patient, be accurate and really just hang in there and compete against them, every ball. Discipline and patience is going to be a key. If we can do that over five days then we're a chance of competing with them and staying with them," he said. (ANI)