Black Caps eye grand finale

Daniel Vettori expects New Zealand to raise their game during the NatWest Series

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New Zealand will attempt to summon all of their battling qualities to bounce back strongly in the NatWest Series and prevent their tour to England ending in dismal fashion.

Desperately disappointed after they threw away a 179-run first-innings lead in the second npower Test to lose the series 2-0, the tourists had hoped to provide a riposte in yesterday’s NatWest Twenty20 International, only to slump to a nine-wicket mauling at Old Trafford.

But as they prepare for the start of the five-match one-day series at Chester-le-Street tomorrow in a format of the game where they are ranked as the third best team in the world, New Zealand know it is now or never if they are not to suffer similar disappointments over the next few weeks.

Captain Daniel Vettori has admitted as much by urging his side to find extra reserves of determination if they are not to disappear without trace, particularly without injured all-rounder Jacob Oram.

“They’ve just have to find something from within themselves,” stressed Vettori.

“It’s not a matter of me or (coach) John Bracewell saying a number of things. Some guys have just got to step up, and if they don’t do it, we’ll get results like we did at Old Trafford.”

In an attempt to shake things up in their line-up for tomorrow’s match, the tourists have decided to give the gloves to Gareth Hopkins and allow Brendon McCullum to concentrate on his devastating hitting at the top of the order.

Denied the strike during the crucial early overs of last night’s defeat - he faced only eight balls during the first six overs of powerplays and failed to score - McCullum fell for just 24 and was a major factor in England restricting the tourists to 123 for nine.

Perhaps weighed down by the dual responsibility of wicketkeeper and leading batsman, Hopkins has taken the gloves from McCullum and will play at the ground where he made his ODI debut four years ago.

New Zealand are hopeful the change can inspire McCullum into a performance similar to that he delivered in the opening match of the Indian Premier League, when he smashed a record 159 off only 73 balls.

Kyle Mills gets stuck into Luke Wright during his cameo innings of 12 at Old Trafford yesterday

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Seamer Kyle Mills predicted: “I think in the first four overs of the game he only faced a few balls, but he’ll come into play soon.

“He’s a world-class player, he’s shown that over the last two years and I’m sure he’ll be a force to be reckoned with during this series. I don’t think we depend too much on him, it’s more a recognition of how good a player he is.”

Unlike in Twenty20 cricket, where New Zealand have now lost seven matches in a row, they are more of a threat in the 50-over format of the game, having reached the semi-finals of last year’s World Cup in the Caribbean.

They have lost only one of their last eight ODIs and, having beaten England 3-1 on home soil recently, are optimistic they can bounce back from their Twenty20 disappointment just as they did in New Zealand several months ago.

“Our place in the rankings is a recognition of what a good one-day side we are,” stressed Mills.

“We’ve only lost one of our last eight one-day matches and we feel comfortable in that form of the game and our strengths are in that game.

“Last night was hugely disappointing for us. It’s a shorter version of the game and we expected to play well but from the very start we batted poorly and, defending a total of 120, we bowled poorly.

“We all need to step up and last night we didn’t do that. We didn’t bat or bowl well and there’s no point hiding behind those facts - we have to do both much better.”

Hopkins is expected to replace out-of-touch Peter Fulton in the side, while 19-year-old seamer Tim Southee has been included having recovered from the ankle injury which has sidelined him for the last week.

New Zealand’s final dilemma is whether to recall off-spinner Jeetan Patel or continue with a three-man attack including Michael Mason, who was the pick of a disappointing New Zealand attack at Old Trafford.