KEY POINTS:
New Zealand are hoping to carry on where they left off with the bat, but for a sudden improvement in their bowling, when they square off against England in tonight's second leg of their double-header at Perth.
Having brought the so-far turgid tri-series to life early yesterday morning with a storming run-chase against Australia, the New Zealanders seem ready to field their strongest XI in a bid to get a foot in the door of the finals.
A win against a near-suicidal England will give New Zealand a five-point buffer at the business end of the tournament, with only one game remaining against each of their rivals, at Melbourne on Sunday, and Brisbane on Tuesday.
As if the appalling form and procession of injuries is not bad enough for England, they now have question marks over front-line pacemen James Anderson and Jon Lewis.
New Zealand, however, will almost certainly bring back Shane Bond and James Franklin (who were both rested for the game against Australia) possibly at the expense of either Kyle Mills or Mark Gillespie, and second spinner Jeetan Patel.
The changes should make a noticeable difference to New Zealand's firepower with the ball, an aspect that was sorely lacking in the first half of the game on Sunday night, when Australia raced to their ground-record total of 343.
Thankfully, New Zealand supporters should see more penetration tonight courtesy of Bond - who snared his 100th ODI wicket last week in Adelaide - and Franklin, who knocked the top off the England batting during the same game, ending with three for 17 off seven overs.
They seem poised to join either Gillespie or Mills, and Jacob Oram in the pace attack, supported by Daniel Vettori's left-arm spin, and the part-time mediums of Craig McMillan.
The other part of New Zealand's game that will come under the spotlight is their fielding, following two inexplicably poor performances against Australia, the first at Sydney a week ago, and the second on Sunday night at the Waca.
However, skipper Stephen Fleming is confident his side will pull their act together tonight against England, chiefly he said, because the players don't feel under as much pressure as they do against Australia.
"Sometimes you push too hard," he said. "Our fielding [yesterday] was as anxious as it was in Sydney, [in that we] wanted to make everything count. For England we were more relaxed and it was more polished."
Any concerns New Zealand might have pale into insignificance compared to those of England, who have been dismissed in their most recent two innings for 110 and 120.
As if to confirm their lack of confidence, injured and sidelined skipper Michael Vaughan described the past week's events as the most depressing time of his career.
New Zealand v England
Perth, 5.30pm today
New Zealand: Stephen Fleming (c), Lou Vincent, Ross Taylor, Peter Fulton, Hamish Marshall, Craig McMillan, Jacob Oram, Brendon McCullum, Daniel Vettori, James Franklin, Shane Bond, Mark Gillespie, Michael Mason, Jeetan Patel.
England: Mal Loye, Andrew Strauss, Ian Bell, Ed Joyce, Paul Collingwood, Andy Flintoff , Jamie Dalrymple, Jon Lewis, Sajid Mahmood, Paul Nixon, Monty Panesar, James Anderson, Ravi Bopara, Liam Plunkett, Chris Read, Chris Tremlett.
