Trial by spin awaits Black Caps in West Indies

After a week of spin and counter-spin in the match-fixing saga, the tweakers on the pitch now occupy the Black Caps' minds as they depart today for their West Indies tour.

Three of them, in fact, with coach Mike Hesson braced for a potential trio of frontline West Indies spinners including the long shadow of Sulieman Benn.

The fiery two-metre-tall left-armer played the last of his 17 tests in December 2010 and tangled with Mitchell Johnson and Dale Steyn in various mid-pitch clashes. He's back in the selection frame, named in the hosts' 20-man training squad after taking 37 wickets at 15.45 in the domestic first-class competition.

Alongside Sunil Narine and Shane Shillingford, both troublesome for New Zealand in the past, it adds up to the most daunting spin test from any current international side.

"All I can go by is recent history and it's turned and bounced [in the Caribbean]. The wicket blocks are bare in photos we've seen, so that's pretty much what we expect to get," Hesson said.