Wellington (New Zealand), Apr. 1 : India''s cricketers, it seems, will have a wicket of their choice when they meet New Zealand in the third and final cricket Test at the Basin Reserve ground here from Friday.

Any prospect of New Zealand pressurizing a pitch to deliberately favour seam bowlers was ruled out after the Indians praised Australian Brett Sipthorpe''s work.

Wellington  - The governor of New Zealand's Reserve Bank, Alan Bollard, rebuked trading banks on Wednesday for raising interest rates on home mortgages even after the central bank dropped its benchmark rate to a record-low 3 per cent last month.

He issued a rare statement repeating that New Zealand's recovery from recession is expected to be very gradual: "In these circumstances we believe the rise in longer-term interest rates is unwarranted and inconsistent with the monetary policy outlook."

Wellington  - A seriously injured hiker spent two days dragging himself 3 kilometres down a New Zealand glacier with a suspected broken ankle and wrist after falling down a cliff in the Southern Alps, news reports said Wednesday.

Matthews Briggs, 33, had lain injured for a week hoping that friends would raise the alarm and searchers would find him. But he eventually set off for a mountaineers' hut, thinking: "If I don't get out of here, I'm going to die here," the Dominion Post reported.

Wellington (New Zealand), Mar. 31 : West Indian umpire Billy Doctrove has been replaced for Friday''''s third cricket test between New Zealand and India at the Basin Reserve as he continues to recover from illness.

Doctrove had to pull out of the second test in Napier last Saturday after two days play when he was diagnosed with a chest infection. He was replaced by New Zealand''''s Evan Watkin, the NZPA reports.

Two neutral umpires will stand in the series finale.

Wellington  - A row erupted Monday over an official decision to put the letter "h" into the name of the New Zealand North Island city Wanganui to restore its original Maori spelling after 155 years.

The ruling came from the New Zealand Geographic Board, which is the last word on the spelling of places on the map, and follows its decision 18 years ago to change the name of the river that flows through the city of 40,000 people to Whanganui.

Wellington - A row erupted Monday over an official decision to put the letter "h" into the name of the New Zealand North Island city Wanganui to restore its original Maori spelling after 155 years.

The ruling came from the New Zealand Geographic Board, which is the last word on the spelling of places on the map, and follows its decision 18 years ago to change the name of the river that flows through the city of 40,000 people to Whanganui.