Kiwis out to upset England

Brendon McCullum claims New Zealand can spring a surprise © Getty Images

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New Zealand are intent on learning the lessons of defeat as they attempt to match the achievements of their 1999 counterparts by winning a series in England.

The tourists will start this week’s opening npower Test as underdogs for the series despite running England close during the winter, when they won the first Test and were in good positions in the next two before sliding to a 2-1 series defeat.

But the Black Caps believe they have the capabilities to emulate the 1999 team’s success - providing they can find a solid base at the top of the order.

In the three Tests during the winter, New Zealand failed to post a single half-century opening stand, and vice-captain Brendon McCullum believes if they can rectify that they have the tools to trouble England.

“We won that first Test match with a formula that worked against them and if it wasn’t for our inability to score runs at the top of the order in the last two Test matches then I’m sure we’d have run them a lot closer than we did,” he said.

“We’ve learned some huge lessons and taken a lot of confidence out of the performances recently and I’m sure if we can hit our straps and get the areas right that we’re looking to maximise than we’ve got a real chance of coming out on top in this series, even if we are massive underdogs.

“Our bowling unit is pretty sound, but the times where they have struggled is when we haven’t given them enough rest with the bat.

Aaron Redmond has impressed McCullum at the top of the order

“That is something we need to make sure we can do in this Test series, to maximise the time they are off the park so they’ve got time to recover.

“The onus for that is on the top six to carve out some big runs and spend some significant time out in the middle.”

Their failure to do that resulted in the New Zealand selectors dropping opener Matthew Bell and Mathew Sinclair from their tour party and surprisingly calling up Otago opener Aaron Redmond.

He justified his selection with 210 runs in two innings against England Lions at the Rose Bowl last week and McCullum has high hopes for him on his debut at Lord’s later this week.

“He’s been fantastic, he’s been brilliant,” said McCullum. “He spent 360 overs on the bounce fielding and batting out in the middle and to be able to score 150 and then back it up with 12 overs with the ball and then to score 60-odd in the last innings is great.

“I’m sure he’ll be a tired boy over the next couple of days but with a nice break leading in I’m sure his confidence will be high.

“It’s certainly nice to have a top-order batsman like Aaron in such good form going into the Test match.

“He hasn’t played a Test match but I’m sure if he plays the way he has done he will be very successful because the Lions attack was good and the confidence he will take out of this will stand him in good stead.”