KEY POINTS:
Jeetan Patel has embodied the New Zealand cricket team's rediscovered confidence as he optimistically predicts the Black Caps' one-day series opening win in Wellington will prove the springboard for ultimate victory.
Patel had more reason than most to leave Westpac Stadium a relieved man on Saturday after his belated introduction tidied up England's tail before New Zealand cruised to an emphatic six-wicket margin.
Earlier in the week he had been mauled by the big-hitting Dimitri Mascarenhas, who deposited four successive gentle spinners into the west stand at Eden Park.
That over - the 16th of England's innings - changed the complexion of the contest as England strode to a 32-run triumph.
Patel ended up with the unflattering figures of one for 42 off three overs and playfully suggested he still felt a touch uncomfortable when seeing Mascarenhas - an Australian-raised allrounder of Sri Lankan parents.
Fortunately for the 27-year-old, Mascarenhas was well out of harm's way when Patel was tossed the ball during the last 10 overs of England's innings.
"When I look at Mascarenhas I still get quite scared," he joked after the team landed in Hamilton yesterday.
Patel bounced back with two for 14 off 6.4 overs though admittedly England's innings' had imploded before he was consigned to chip out the tailenders.
Still, the second fiddle to Daniel Vettori still took plenty of encouragement from his contribution.
"If you miss a couple of times your confidence does get hit so now I'm running on some pretty good feelings at the moment.
"It was just good to get out there and go through my processes again and actually really bowl in a match situation."
Whether he gets another rare chance to complement his skipper in Hamilton tomorrow at Seddon Park remains to be seen but Patel was hopeful he might have warranted another opportunity to bowl in tandem share the slow bowling workload with Vettori.
"Obviously I'd love it to become the case that we always pick two spinners. I've just got to keep pushing my claims," said the perennial 12th man and substitute fielder.
Yet should he be confined to the drinks duties, Patel was still enthusiastic about New Zealand's chances of improving their position.
"We've got the lead and we've got a chance to really hammer the series home by going 2-0 up," he said.
"There's a buzz about the camp, we're excited.
"We played a great game of cricket from our point of view (in Wellington) and if we can carry the excitement we've got at the moment and the buzz we've got about being here and going to Auckland for the next game (on Friday) I think we'll go close to winning the series pretty quickly."
Understandably England coach Peter Moores begged to differ with that assessment though he did concede New Zealand had regrouped impressively from both Twenty20 defeats.
"We knew New Zealand would come back, they're third in the (one-day) rankings and they've got a very good win ratio in New Zealand.
"We knew all that, it's a bit like Sri Lanka. We knew winning there was statistically hard," Moores said, citing England's unexpected come-from-behind series win on the island in November.
England recovered after losing the opening match and won three straight before dropping the dead rubber.
"The focus now is what we can do and what we need to improve," he said.
"I don't know whether we panicked but we didn't adapt to the conditions."
England hope to gauge what lies in wait on the dedicated cricket venue today after yesterday's practice was downgraded to a gym session.
Wet weather also impacted on New Zealand's training, though it was only ever optional.
There was only one negative for the New Zealander's to absorb yesterday - revelations regular teammate Lou Vincent was battling depression.
"Obviously you feel for any of your teammates when they're going through a rough patch," Patel said.
"He knows, and we know, we're all here for him if he needs a hand."
- NZPA
