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Vettori: New Zealand have momentum for England series

04/03/2008

Captain Daniel Vettori believes the momentum is with New Zealand ahead of the first Test against England in Hamilton later today.

The Black Caps go into the three-match series having beaten the tourists 3-1 in the one-day internationals last month, bouncing back from consecutive defeats in the preceding Twenty20 matches.

And Vettori, who returns to his home ground at the Oval in Hamilton, believes the upcoming Test matches can propel New Zealand (seventh) above England (fifth) in the world rankings.

"Being seventh in the world rankings is probably a reflection of the way we've played Test cricket over the last few years," Vettori explained.

"We know we have a lot of Test cricket coming up and if we can beat England home and away then we know we're on the right track.

"We're certainly confident we can win this series, but we're also not underestimating an England team who have played some pretty decent Test cricket.”

England's performances in the one-dayers last month were patchy at best, although it had seemed as if there would be little to cheer for the travelling Barmy Army when they endured back-to-back heavy losses in the first two matches.

More positive performances in the victory in the third match of the series, and the tied fourth match, gave fans hope but this was ultimately dashed by a professional New Zealand showing in the fifth and final fixture.

"I think we can take the momentum into this series," Vettori continued.

"There are obviously some changes we need to make to our style of play and aggression that we take into a Test match because that's probably something that has hindered us in the past.

"We've probably tried to play the game at too quick a pace so we're making sure we take the good things from the one-dayers and try and rectify the things in our Test game that have let us down."