KEY POINTS:
Four years must seem like an eternity for New Zealand cricket coach John Bracewell.
Back in 2004, a touring side labelled one of New Zealand's strongest arrived in England confident of repeating their 2-1 series win from 1999.
The batsmen largely stood tall but a Shane Bond back injury in a warm-up match was a killer blow, and the pacemen couldn't take up the slack as England swept the series 3-0.
It left New Zealand's record in England: played 47, won four, lost 25, drawn 18.
As Bracewell can attest, having played in their breakthrough 1983 test win at Headingley, it's tough enough to win in England with your best side.
This week a barely recognisable bunch of Black Caps without their five best players strode through the Heathrow Airport terminal, before tomorrow's traditional one-day tour opener against the MCC at Arundel.
Gone from that 2004 first test side are the entire top-five: Stephen Fleming, Mark Richardson, Nathan Astle, Craig McMillan and Scott Styris, plus star allrounder Chris Cairns, who will captain the MCC.
In an unprecedented move, captain Daniel Vettori, Brendon McCullum, Jacob Oram, Kyle Mills and Ross Taylor were excused to fill their pockets and arrive later next week after their Twenty20 fun in India.
"Distracted Kiwis touch down for tour," read an early headline.
It left Bracewell, sitting alongside stand-in captain Jamie How, to state the obvious to English media and claim underdog status yesterday as he batted off questions about the Indian Premier League disruption.
"It's not ideal, but this is the reality of the landscape we live in," said Bracewell as they eye three tests at Lord's, Manchester and Nottingham then five one-day internationals.
Retirements and Twenty20 riches have shorn New Zealand's batting stocks and it's a different kind of headache from 2004 when captain Fleming openly wondered how he would snare 20 wickets.
With the black Sunday collapse in Napier still fresh in the mind, the batting column has "must improve" written in bold print as England left-armer Ryan Sidebottom looms large.
He dominated New Zealand's batsmen to spur his side to a 2-1 series win last month.
Opener Aaron Redmond, the latest opener to pass Matthew Bell, Craig Cumming and Michael Papps on the conveyor belt, is likely to debut alongside How at Lord's on May 15 although Bracewell has listed McCullum as the back-up opener.
Peter Fulton, James Marshall and another newcomer, Daniel Flynn, will vie for batting spots alongside Taylor in the warm-up matches at Canterbury, Chelmsford and Southampton.
Patience will be preached by Bracewell, who remarked about the tendency for batsmen to "live in the highlights" amid the Twenty20 revolution.
"We know we've got a bowling attack that can knock over their big boys and guys who are averaging in excess of 40," Bracewell said. "But you can't win test series if you can only win the odd test match from bowling.
"We just need to get our skills up, because we can't keep throwing our bowlers out there after only 60-70 overs' rest. They have got to have enough fuel in the tank to get through, and in the last series, they ran out."
It's a huge task for New Zealand to build a solid batting unit on so little form and experience, but England provided the right environment to regroup, Bracewell insisted.
"It's one of the great old-fashioned tours where you get a good degree of warm-up games to get your feet. The conditions aren't necessarily any different to NZ to any great degree. It's full of history. If you're going to build a culture around your team, there's no better place to start, really." The bowling attack led by Chris Martin and Kyle Mills, with back-up from teenager Tim Southee, Oram and Vettori, should prove competitive.
And the unfamiliar Duke ball, which caused the pacemen so many worries when it wouldn't swing for them in 2004, needs to be mastered.
HOW THEY STAND
NZ V ENGLAND STATISTICS
Test squad:
(age and test appearances in brackets):
Daniel Vettori (captain, 29, 79)
Jamie How(26, 9)
Aaron Redmond(28, 0)
Peter Fulton(29, 7)
Ross Taylor(24, 5)
James Marshall(29, 5)
Daniel Flynn(22, 0)
Brendon McCullum(26, 32)
Jacob Oram(29, 27)
Gareth Hopkins(31, 0)
Kyle Mills(29, 11)
Tim Southee(19, 1)
Jeetan Patel(27, 3)
Chris Martin(33, 40)
Iain O'Brien(31, 6)
Michael Mason(33, 1).
Test history in England:
PLAYED 47
England won 25
NZ won 4
Drawn 18.
New Zealand wins:
1983: second test, won by 5 wickets, Leeds.
1986: second test, won by 8 wickets, Nottingham.
1999: second test, won by 9 wickets, Lord's.
1999: fourth test, won by 83 runs, The Oval.
Summary of series in England:
1931: England won 1-0 (2 draws).
1937: England won 1-0 (2 draws).
1949: Drawn 0-0 (4 draws).
1958: England won 4-0 (1 draw).
1965: England won 3-0.
1969: England won 2-0 (1 draw).
1973: England won 2-0 (1 draw).
1978: England won 3-0.
1983: England won 3-1.
1986: England won 1-0 (2 draws).
1990: England won 1-0 (2 draws).
1994: England won 1-0 (2 draws).
1999: New Zealand won 2-1 (1 draw).
2004: England won 3-0.
- NZPA
