England look forward to put behind all the disappointments of the One Day Series against New Zealand when they face up with the hosts in the first of the three match test series starting from the 5th of March 2008 in Hamilton. England come into this series on the back of a disappointing one day series and will be hoping to make the most out of seaming conditions to register their first series victory in England in many a year.

England have failed to live up to early promises in the tour after winning a couple of good 20-20 victories early on in the tour and have since then slipped down against some fine New Zealand cricket performances. England lost out in the one day series 3-1 on the back of some batting performances primarily and will be hoping for a much better showing this time around. There is no shortage of talent though and the arrival of Monty Panesar and Steve Harmison will indeed provide the English bowling attack a much needed boost. Harmison was particularly impressive during their tour match with New Zealand Select XI and the English outfit will be hoping that the giant fast bowler can keep up that form against a much stiffer opposition. Matthew Hoggard is still unfit and it remains to be seen if England can win a test series without the services of Talismatic all rounder Andrew Flintoff. Michael Vaughan is back as captain for this clash as is batsman Andrew Strauss while Panesar will be hoping to stake his claim for the best left arm spinner in business when he comes up against a new Zealand outfit that is still rather raw and untested against quality spin bowling England last won an away series way back in 2004 December against South Africa and will be hoping to rectify their current slip in the ICC test ratings with a win this time around.

New Zealand on the other hand received a much needed boost in the one day series after a mauling down in South Africa. However, despite the results it is still an undeniable fact that New Zealand are much poorer without the likes of Craig McMillan and Shane Bond who are out of the current new Zealand ranks. Jesse Ryder will be out of contention after a embarrassing bar incident where he bruised his right tendon after a late night fight while Stephen Fleming will be back though for the test series. Fleming will be playing his last ever test series in New Zealand and will be hoping to guide the likes of Jamie How and Ross Taylor in order to take a firm lead for New Zealand in the first test starting on the 5th of March 2008 in Hamilton.

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