KEY POINTS:
New Zealand are contemplating putting England in a spin when the first test begins in Hamilton today.
A dry, brown pitch - at least dry before yesterday afternoon's steady drizzle - which is expected to lack significant pace and lend itself to the slow men, means offspinner Jeetan Patel is being prepared for only his second test, and his first at home.
And with New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori and England's Monty Panesar shaping as influential figures over the next five days, the test could see more spin than a Beehive press conference.
Vettori insisted if Patel plays - with speedster Mark Gillespie, a late call-in for the injured Iain O'Brien, and uncapped allrounder Grant Elliott tipped to sit the test out - it will be with good reason and not just because of the expectations of a spin-friendly pitch.
"We both had some success during the one-day series, so we feel we're in good form and it's not just plucking someone out to fill a gap because it's a dry wicket," Vettori said.
"I just think we've got two decent spinners who can do a job."
The last time New Zealand played two spinners at home was a Vettori-Paul Wiseman double act against Australia at Eden Park in March 2005, 10 tests ago.
In the past 10 years, or 38 home tests, New Zealand have gone twin-spin seven times, three of them at Hamilton, including the last played at Seddon Park four years ago, the so-called crater test, when part of the pitch against South Africa fell apart.
Patel's previous test was with Vettori against South Africa at Cape Town two seasons ago.
He has been prepared to play, in a bid to settle any lingering nerves.
New Zealand must bowl last to utilise the spinners, which means the batsmen must rustle up a decent score for them to work with, against a high calibre bowling attack led by swing men Matthew Hoggard and Ryan Sidebottom.
Stephen Fleming will bat at No 3, with Mathew Sinclair, Ross Taylor and Jacob Oram to follow.
The one selection issue to be signed off by Vettori and coach John Bracewell is whether there is a strong case for including Elliott, a tidy batsman and an extra bowling option in place of either Sinclair or Taylor.
Against Bangladesh earlier in the season, the batsmen collectively failed to push on to a big total. No one reached 100. So Vettori has stressed the need for the batsmen to pitch a tent at the crease.
"If we can bat 120 to 130 overs then you can build big scores. And if you're talking about playing two spinners then we can come into play a lot more on the fourth and fifth days."
Vettori acknowledged in statistical terms England far outweigh New Zealand in the averages game.
Their top six batsmen all average over 40.
No New Zealanders can match that. Fleming and Oram are the closest at 39.73 and 39.42 respectively. If they take the confidence and, in the cases of Jamie How and Taylor, the form from the ODI series, Vettori hopes it will serve them well.
England captain Michael Vaughan, who averages a modest 23.88 from nine innings against New Zealand, confirmed his XI yesterday, Andrew Strauss winning the spot Owais Shah had been hoping to fill.
Wicketkeeper Tim Ambrose will start his first test, having seen off ODI gloveman Phil Mustard. In any case, Mustard had the misfortune to stop a Kevin Pietersen drive with his nose at practice yesterday, breaking it and becoming Colonel Mustard with a Professor Plum out front.
England will start favourites and possess several matchwinners but, as is invariably the case with opening tests, there's a handful of ifs and buts.
Win enough of those contestable aspects and New Zealand should be right in the battle, especially as England have won just one test in their last 15 away from home since January 2005.
"The typical English mentality might be that we're expected to rock up and win," Vaughan said.
"But you don't win a series away from home without working very hard. If we think the wrong way we will come unstuck."
* NZ V ENGLAND
Seddon Park, Hamilton
10.30am today, live on Sky Sport
New Zealand (likely): Daniel Vettori (c), Jamie How, Matthew Bell, Stephen Fleming, Mathew Sinclair, Ross Taylor, Jacob Oram, Brendon McCullum, Kyle Mills, Jeetan Patel, Chris Martin.
England: Michael Vaughan (c), Alastair Cook, Andrew Strauss, Kevin Pietersen, Ian Bell, Paul Collingwood, Tim Ambrose, Matthew Hoggard, Ryan Sidebottom, Steve Harmison, Monty Panesar.
Umpires: Daryl Harper and Steve Davis (Australia).
New Zealand v England
Tests: 88, NZ 7 wins, England 41 wins, draws 40
Tests in NZ: 41, NZ 3 wins, England 16 wins, draws 22
