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MANCHESTER - Daniel Flynn can make the New Zealand test No 6 spot his own in the England cricket series, says captain Daniel Vettori who hailed the rookie's climb to the top level.
The tourists made the four-hour bus journey to Manchester today for the second test with honours even in the three-match series and New Zealand taking encouragement from the draw at Lord's.
High on the list was Flynn's fifth day contribution on debut, the Tauranga product batting two hours and 43 minutes to be unbeaten on 29 and help century-maker Jacob Oram add 132 for the fifth wicket to foil the hosts' victory bid.
Vettori said he'd been confident Flynn was up to international cricket, and was happy to see his Northern Districts teammate take the chance.
"I've known him for a while playing at ND and he's a hard little guy. He doesn't give too much away and any chance he gets, he really settles in," the captain said.
"He acknowledged that Jacob was the aggressor and he could sit back and just play a composed innings, a mature innings and just turn over the strike and not take too many risks, was a great sign for a guy in his first test.
"He's got that No 6 role for basically as long as he wants and if he keeps producing performances like that, then it's the start of a good career."
Left-hander Flynn's sound batting technique, and ability to play the ball late, saw former England spinner and BBC radio commentator Phil Tufnell liken his style to that of former Australian opener Justin Langer.
But Vettori was adamant there was no temptation to move him up the order against the England pacemen.
"It's hard because it sounds like we have to reverse our order," Vettori said with a laugh.
"I don't think so, I like the balance of Brendon (McCullum) at five and Daniel at six. He's a new guy to the test arena and it's always easier to blood guys at five and six, and as they get experience and mature they can go up to four or three.
"The perfect example is someone like Ricky Ponting who started at six and slowly moved his way up.
"My preference for him is to stay at six for quite a long period of time and hopefully one day when he's ready he can sneak up the order. "
Flynn, 23, was picked for the tour with a first-class average of 32.95, after brief appearances in a Twenty20 and one-day match against England in February.
He captained New Zealand at the under-19 World Cup in 2003-04, struck his maiden first-class century in 2005 and caught the selectors' eyes this season with two blistering one-day knocks of 143 and 149 for ND.
There were no such pyrotechnics at Lord's as Flynn took on the sheet anchor role and impressed Oram.
"He's extremely composed and that's the big thing that struck me out there," Oram said.
"Technically he's great... and he didn't look fazed by anyone.
"For me swinging away from one end someone had to keep their head down and it was the debutant.
"We didn't see it at home last season but already this tour, even though the runs weren't big for him, you could see he had some talent. He's got a good head on his shoulders as well."
Assuming everyone remains fit, New Zealand will take an unchanged side to Old Trafford on Friday.
Top-order batsmen Aaron Redmond, James Marshall and Ross Taylor will be in need of runs and confidence, despite each spending at least an hour at the crease at Lord's.
- NZPA
