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MANCHESTER - Tim Southee will be given until just before the start of tonight's (NZT) second cricket test to prove his fitness as New Zealand ruled out spinner Jeetan Patel from their team to face England.
Southee completed his required six-over spell at Old Trafford today and pronounced himself fit and healthy, raising hopes he would retain his spot after suffering vomiting and dehydration from a virus on Monday and Tuesday.
Fellow paceman Iain O'Brien also bowled at a solid clip and batted in the nets, ready for a callup if Southee, 19, awoke with any doubts hovering around his ability to last five days.
New Zealand coach John Bracewell confirmed the same 12 as the drawn first test at Lord's, meaning no place for Patel.
With England spinner Monty Panesar having taken 18 wickets from his two test appearances at Old Trafford, New Zealand were considering playing two spinners and replicating their attack from the 189-run first test win in Hamilton.
But after a pitch inspection at a mild, overcast Old Trafford today, Bracewell and captain Daniel Vettori were convinced four pacemen was the way to go.
Southee, who took five wickets on debut against England at Napier then none for 59 off 16 overs at Lord's, is seen as an improver after battling flu in the first test leadup.
The only drama at today's final session came when Brendon McCullum and James Marshall had a potentially nasty collision during a fielding drill, leaving Marshall limping before he was given the all-clear.
Vettori admitted the expected fast, bouncy pitch for the second test was a rarity on the world test circuit.
Batting coach Mark O'Neill, who played for Western Australia and is well versed with the hard and fast Perth surface, had been tutoring the inexperienced New Zealand batsmen on their fast surface play.
Vettori said with all the talk about how his under-fire top-order would handle a fiery England pace attack, he was preaching calm to his bowlers.
"Sometimes bowlers get carried away with the extra pace and bounce so it's almost them who have to adapt more than the batsmen," Vettori said.
"That's the key thing we'll be stressing. The best lengths on a bouncy wicket will be the same lengths at Lord's so you don't want to change too much.
"I played here in 1999 and would have called it a low slow turner. It's going to be completely different and the team that adapts to it best is going to get the result."
Bowling to England's two left-handed openers, Alastair Cook and Andrew Strauss, who added 121 at Lord's, was the must-improve area for the pacemen, Vettori said.
England captain Michael Vaughan meanwhile rated Old Trafford the best pitch in the country, a hardly surprising claim given the hosts have won four of the last five tests played here.
"It's a great place to play cricket. It's always quite attacking cricket and there's always a bit of chin music, plenty to see," Vaughan said.
"(Bowlers) have to put the effort in but you have to be up with your pace with every spell that you bowl. If you trundle out here at 80-81mph (130km/h) you can find yourself going around the park."
He also confirmed an unchanged 11 for a fourth consecutive test and challenged all his top-six batsmen to fire at once.
"We're all playing well at times but not playing well as a collective unit.
"We're still better than the runs that we've scored in the last year and I hope this is the start of us getting consistent 400-450s in the first innings."
- NZPA
