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England's cricket tour of New Zealand is poised to take another intriguing twist tomorrow when two fragile test line-ups endeavour to avoid cracking first here on Seddon Park.
While history suggests the tourists should approach the three-match rubber with an overwhelming superiority complex - New Zealand have won just seven tests to England's 41 stretching back to 1930 - back-to-back series losses to India and in Sri Lanka have further tarnished the prestige associated with their unexpected Ashes triumph in 2005.
Since then the urn has returned to Australia and England's test ranking has slipped from two to five, still a couple of places above New Zealand on the International Cricket Council (ICC) rankings.
England started their two-month programme with emphatic wins in the Twenty20 format, days later New Zealand took an unassailable 2-0 lead in the ODI series to eventually run out 3-1 winners - a result befitting their status at the world No 3-ranked ODI team.
Now England are challenged to justify their test favouritism despite having arrived here in something of a trough.
Only two test series of the eight since the Ashes victory have been won - a damning statistic that includes a worrying footnote: of their last 15 tests abroad, England have celebrated a win just once, at Mumbai in March 2006.
Captain Michael Vaughan, who has missed the majority of England's post-Ashes decline through injury, admits his position and that of coach Peter Moores will come under increasing scrutiny should New Zealand not be put away.
"If we don't start producing as a unit now questions will be asked," he admitted.
"I think the team realise we need to start playing good cricket. Winning the series is very important for the development of this side and then after that we need to sustain our good form for the whole of the next summer."
Among England's major problems in the last six months has been their inability to score centuries, with only Vaughan and Kevin Pietersen reaching three figures in the last two series.
That is a shortcoming New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori can empathise with after Matthew Bell was his only top order batsman to post a ton against Bangladesh's generous attack in January.
The previous two-test series in South Africa saw only one batsman - Stephen Fleming - passing 50.
Vettori struggled to answer whether his batting unit was equipped to address that imbalance but expressed some cautious optimism they were capable of batting time.
"All I can say is we've stressed to the batsmen that we have to occupy the crease as long as possible," he said.
"We need to take the game into the fifth day. That's going to be a real challenge for us throughout the series. If we can take the game into the fifth day then we give ourselves a chance - if its a three- or four-day event then it's a bit of a lottery."
The test records of the two recalled batsmen, Jamie How and Ross Taylor, are not encouraging but he hoped the pair could maintain their impressive one-day form.
"I think we've got a good (batting) unit. While their records may not suggest that, there's guys carrying confidence from the one-dayers. If you look at Jamie How (test average 14.55) .... I'd put Ross Taylor (11.00) in that category as well.
"Hopefully those guys won't worry about their test records, they'll take their one-day form into the test game."
Vaughan was happy to announce his line-up, one containing no surprises after Ryan Sidebottom and Paul Collingwood passed fitness tests.
After assessing what he considered a drier than usual pitch, Vettori suggested Jeetan Patel was in line for this second test cap.
Should the Wellingtonian get the nod it will be the first time New Zealand have employed two spinners since the drawn second test in Cape Town in March 2006.
It has been nine tests since New Zealand have used slow bowlers in tandem at home - Vettori and Paul Wiseman played against Australia at Eden Park three years ago.
Seamer Mark Gillespie, who replaced the injured Iain O'Brien today, could force his way in depending on the overhead conditions while South African-born allrounder Grant Elliot is likely to miss out.
- NZPA
