New Zealand hope for clean bill of health

After all the injury traumas that afflicted New Zealand's preparations for the Test series, the roles have been reversed ahead of Thursday's opening fixture in the NatWest Series. This time it is England who have the problems, with Marcus Trescothick and Andrew Flintoff both rated doubtful, while New Zealand are hopeful of presenting a clean bill of health.

Michael Papps has recovered well from a broken finger, while New Zealand's premier spinner, Daniel Vettori, is on the verge of a comeback, after tearing his hamstring during the second-Test defeat at Headingley. In a bid to hasten his return, Vettori was excused from training on Tuesday to play for MCC against King's School in Macclesfield, near Manchester, and expects to be available for selection.

"Better late than never," was Stephen Fleming's reaction as he spoke to the press at Old Trafford. "You don't wish any injury upon anyone, but they have dictated part of this summer. It seems to be one of those frustrations that all teams have."

Flintoff and Trescothick are arguably England's two leading exponents of one-day cricket, and their absence would be a major boost for New Zealand, who have yet to look convincing in their one-day campaign so far. "They are two key players for the England side," agreed Fleming. "They will have concerns and we know how they feel and what they will be going through.

"But part of your strength as a squad is to be able to adapt," added Fleming. "We came up a little bit short [in the Tests], but England will hope they can cover any problems they may have." In that respect at least, England have a readymade replacement for Trescothick in Robert Key, the form player of the English domestic season, who is champing at the bit to take his chance at the top of the England order.

Flintoff, however, will be a harder man to replace. On the positive side, his withdrawal does offer a reprieve to Rikki Clarke, who played throughout the winter without quite convincing, while the introduction of Michael Powell is a timely recognition of Glamorgan's prowess in one-day cricket this season - they have lost just once in moving to the top of the National League.

Powell has been instrumental in that success - he is the league's second-highest run-scorer, behind his team-mate Matthew Elliott, with 263 from seven matches at a run-a-ball strike-rate, and he has more than 600 runs in first-class cricket as well. Last week, Glamorgan's captain, Robert Croft, was particularly scathing about their lack of representation in the England squad, and although Powell is unlikely to feature just yet, at least he has now got his foot in the door.

For the eventual ease with which England secured victory in the Test series, the one-dayers are sure to pose a different problem. New Zealand have lost just twice in their last 11 games, and in their last home series, they thrashed South Africa 6-1. "Our one-day game is in much better shape," added Fleming. "and that is something that has swung round in the last couple of years. You can make up for injuries and missing players in the one-day game, whereas over the longer form you are more exposed.

"We haven't been as good as we've wanted to be on this tour so far. We have to win this tournament, get to the final at Lord's, to make sure we go home with our heads held higher than they would have been if we were knocked out early."