HAMILTON, DECEMBER 14: West Indies captain Brian Lara today said he was happy selectors had plenty of form players to choose from ahead of the first cricket Test against New Zealand starting on Thursday.The biggest dilemma facing Lara and his West Indies co-selectors, coach Viv Richards, Clive Lloyd and Test veteran Jimmy Adams, is whether to play a spinner on a Hamilton pitch which often favours the seamers on the first morning.Courtney walsh, who is just 12 wickets shy of Kapil Dev's world record of Test victims (434), and Franklyn Rose and Mervyn Dillon appear certain starters.Lara said the West Indies would name up to 13 players on the eve of the match and decide who would play after inspecting the pitch on the morning of the test .``We've got a full squad of 16 to choose from and that's great,'' Lara told reporters. ``For all of the places (where) there is competition, which while difficult, is a healthy situation,'' he said.Lara's joy at having a full squad to choose from was even greaterafter in-form opener sherwin campbell's apparent recovery from a slight leg injury. He had retired hurt as a precaution on the last day of a first-class match against Auckland yesterday. Campbell scored centuries in both innings of that drawn match and West Indies management are confident he will play.Yet the opening combination still poses some headaches for selectors in the two-test series.Campbell's normal partner is Adrian Griffith but Darren Ganga has emerged as a contender after hitting his first century for West Indies in their second innings against Auckland.New Zealand are still having trouble with their opening partnership and have dropped Matthew Bell for Gary Stead, who was drafted in to the tour of India last month to replace the injured Craig McMillan.While performing creditably against India, Stead has struggled during his home summer, particularly in a New Zealand A match against England A.New ball bowler Dion Nash has been given a clean bill of health after a back injury,leaving New Zealand at full strength.New Zealand selectors also face hard decisions among their bowlers and will choose between impressive seamer Andrew Penn, left-arm counterpart Shane O'Connor and left-arm spinner Daniel Vettori.The Hamilton pitch is likely to be a green-top suiting seamers and the long-range weather forecast suggests rain.Teams (from):West Indies: Brian Lara (captain), Sherwin Campbell, Adrian Griffith, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Ricardo Powell, Jimmy Adams, Ridley Jacobs, Franklyn Rose, Pedro Collins, Nehemiah Perry, Mervyn Dillon, Courtney Walsh.New Zealand: Stephen Fleming (captain), Matthew Horne, Gary Stead, Craig Spearman, Nathan Astle, Craig McMillan, Adam Parore, Chris Cairns, Dion Nash, Daniel Vettori, Shane O'Connor, Andrew Penn, Paul Wiseman.
