KEY POINTS:
England arrive tomorrow and one of their first tasks will be to address the media at a carefully staged conference at their Crowne Plaza, Christchurch, digs. Perhaps the only question of any lasting relevance to the series - one-day and test - will be the one they will
be unable to answer with 100 per cent certainty: Will Shane Bond play?
The saga surrounding the fast bowler and his dual contracts has stretched into its fourth week but a source told the Herald on Sunday an end is in sight, with lawyers working feverishly to stitch together a deal that would enable him to play at least the home series against England. What happens after that is still up in the air.
How important is it? Well, it is no stretch to suggest the series, particularly the test component, rests on it.
"We'll rest a bit easier at night if he's not playing," said England test opener Andrew Strauss, playing his cricket at this point for Northern Districts. "You pretty much know what you're going to get [with the other bowlers] - we know what they're capable of."
This was hardly in the class of Mike Gatting's dismissive appraisal of the New Zealand team that toured England in 1986, in which he likened batting against New Zealand as facing the World XI at one end (Sir Richard Hadlee) and the Ilford Seconds at the other, but it did provoke a response from New Zealand's most penetrative seamer not named Bond, Chris Martin.
"He [Strauss] has said a lot of things in the media over the years that can come across as a little bit arrogant and cocky - you just take that sort of stuff with a grain of salt," said Martin.
Strauss could be forgiven his assessment, however. The only other time he has seen the New Zealand attack in a test was in 2004, when England won the series 3-0.
That series was notable for New Zealand getting themselves into strong positions, only for the attack to start bowling pies. Strauss, in his triumphant debut at Lord's, where only Nasser Hussain running him out denied him two centuries on debut, feasted on the offerings.
"They haven't seen the best of us, particularly that last tour where, as a bowling unit, we didn't bowl very well at all," Martin conceded.
So the Bond factor is massive.
As was revealed here last week, the scrap between Bond and New Zealand Cricket has gone to mediation after the two parties failed to reach consensus over his $3.1 million contract with the 'rebel' Indian Cricket League (ICL). If mediation fails, the employment court is the next logical step, though a stopgap solution could be found before then.
A New Zealand Cricket spokesman said chief executive Justin Vaughan was still unable to comment due to the sensitive nature of the issue and an announcement was expected no earlier than the middle of this week.
The England squad, Strauss included, will be listening closely.
To them, Bond must seem like a myth. He has never played them in a test, being invalided out of the 2004 tour before the tests, yet he looms as largely over this series as the only bowler England fears.
Martin's brave words are unlikely to change that.
ENGLAND SQUADS
ONE-DAY SQUAD
Paul Collingwood (c)
Tim Ambrose (wk)
James Anderson
Ian Bell
Ravi Bopara
Stuart Broad
Alastair Cook
Dimitri Mascarenhas
Phil Mustard (wk)
Kevin Pietersen
Owais Shah
Ryan Sidebottom
Graeme Swann
James Tredwell
Chris Tremlett
Luke Wright
The danger man:
Kevin Pietersen. He's their best-equipped ODI batsman by the length of the straight and an extra furlong.
The wildcard:
There are high hopes for young allrounder Luke Wright and he went some way towards fulfilling expectations at the Twenty20 World Cup. In the absence of Andrew Flintoff, he could play a big part.
The Achilles heel:
If Pietersen fails, they have few players who can consistently accelerate the scoring rate as is needed to post the really big scores that convention demands, or chase down 300-plus totals.
TEST SQUAD
Michael Vaughan (c)
Ambrose (wk)
Anderson
Bell
Broad
Collingwood
Cook
Steve Harmison
Matthew Hoggard
Phil Mustard (wk)
Monty Panesar
Pietersen
Shah
Sidebottom
Andrew Strauss
Swann
The danger man:
Andrew Strauss will be batting with a point to prove after being left out of the tour to Sri Lanka. He likes batting against New Zealand.
The wildcard:
Which Steve Harmison will turn up? When he's on his game, like he was when New Zealand toured in 2004, he can be lethal but too often of late we've seen the other 'Harmy', a danger only to second slip.
The Achilles heel:
Monty Panesar's rise has been much trumpeted but he has looked distinctly human of late. Spin could be a non-factor with this side.
FIVE MEMORABLE ENGLAND TOURS
1932-33: WALLY HAMMOND'S TOUR
He might not have been the most likeable of characters (or even partly likeable) but the man could bat. Although poor weather in Christchurch and Auckland meant both tests were drawn, Hammond had enough time to compile 227 in the first and a then-world record 336 in the second.
1954-55: EDEN PARK NIGHTMARE
A poor New Zealand side had no answer to Brian Statham and Frank 'Typhoon' Tyson, who took 12 wickets between them during the Carisbrook rout. New Zealand were hanging in there better in the second test, conceding just a 46-run lead on the first innings. Then disaster struck, with Bob Appleyard the catalyst for a second innings collapse in which New Zealand were dismissed for 26, a world record likely to stand forever now we have covered pitches.
1977-78: A WIN AT LAST
For the first time England toured New Zealand as a tour in itself, rather than as an add-on. England might have wished they were in Australia during a bitterly cold first test at the Basin Reserve (John Wright's debut). They were set 137 to win but a rampant pace duo of Richard Collinge and Richard Hadlee skittled the tourists for 64. Ian Botham was the star of a big England win in Christchurch, taking a five-for and scoring a century. There was no such drama in the six-day Eden Park finale, Geoff Howarth bagging two centuries - the first a 500-minute effort - but even he couldn't match Clive Radford's interminable 10-hour 158.
1983-84: ENGLAND GONE TO POT
On a dog track at Lancaster Park, England bowled appallingly and Hadlee (left) took full advantage before flicking at one from Bob Willis on 99. England couldn't manage that many in either innings. Jeremy Coney and Martin Crowe (also left) made maiden centuries to save the first test and the final test at Eden Park was a draw, in which Wright, Jeff Crowe and Ian Smith reached three figures. To make matters worse (or really, really groovy depending on your stance), the English were accused but later cleared of smoking pot. England gained a measure of revenge in the one-day series, winning the first two matches before Howarth and Martin Crowe put on a record partnership to win the third.
2001-02: THE NATHAN ASTLE SHOW
England won the test in Christchurch behind a Graham Thorpe double-ton and a maiden century to Andrew Flintoff but all it will be remembered for was Nathan Astle's (left) blazing 222 from 168 balls. The third test, won by New Zealand, was remarkable in itself, although the England players will remember it as the game they had to play after learning their mate Ben Hollioake had died in a car crash in Perth. Astle was the hero in the one-day series, too. England came back from 2-0 down to win at Napier and Auckland before Astle's unbeaten 122 won the fifth and final match, and the series, at Carisbrook.