KEY POINTS:
The Silver Ferns' defence are hoping to exploit frailties in the England shooting end that emerged in their recent 2-0 series loss to Australia.
The Ferns are aiming to add to England's misery when they take them on in the first of three tests in Auckland on Monday.
The English shooters in particular did not have a happy time across the Tasman, with their shooting stats well down on where they should be at international level.
With the Australian defence doing a very good job of getting under the skin of the visitors, England coach Sue Hawkins struggled to find an effective shooting combination during the series.
Louisa Brownfield was the only one of the English shooters to stand up in the Australian series, shooting at 85 per cent in the opening test. But things fell apart for the 1.92m shooter in Wednesday night's second match with Brownfield finishing with 68 per cent. Still, she was the best of the England shooters that night with the team as a whole shooting at a woeful 62 per cent.
Veteran Silver Ferns defender Sheryl Scanlan said they hope to be able to continue to make life tough for the English shooters.
"Australia showed that if you put enough pressure on [the English] they can get a bit shaky, so we hope to be able to do something similar," she said.
However Scanlan points out that they can't afford to rely on the English shooters having a bad day. With a world class defensive pairing of Sonia Mkoloma and Geva Mentor, England have the ability to generate a wealth of turnover ball which makes them an extremely dangerous proposition when they can finish it off down the other end.
Scanlan believes England will be very disappointed with their performances in Australia and expects the visitors will be revved up for Monday's match. She said the return of goal-attack Pamela Cookey, who missed the Australian leg of the tour due to work commitments, will be a huge boost. Cookey was impressive at last year's World Champs and ANZ Championship teams from both sides of the Tasman have been trying to lure her Downunder for quite some time.
"Pamela Cookey wasn't there and I'm sure when she comes back she'll make a big difference, so we know England will come out very strong," said Scanlan.
Silver Ferns coach Ruth Aitken believes after two patchy performances across the Tasman, England will be much more settled for next week's matches.
"England weren't nervous, I just don't think they were as relaxed as the could have been, I think they'll grow in to it," said Aitken. With the Ferns set to play three games in the space of six days, Aitken admits she will be forced to give her bench players more of a run during the series - just don't mention the word "experimentation".
"Well people keep saying I'm doing that anyway," Aitken joked referring to the positional switches of Irene van Dyk and Laura Langman.
Aitken said she would like to use the opportunity to test new combinations, but still wants to "keep the structure around it".
"I think it is the time when you want to see what players can do out on court. I am conservative even within my changes and I would like to see the team continue to grow so I won't make wholesale changes."
New Zealand v England
*Monday - Auckland.
*Wednesday - Dunedin.
*Saturday - Palmerston North.
