John Bracewell says the English press have been writing the same assessments about the Black Caps since before he was a player. Photo / Getty Images

John Bracewell says the English press have been writing the same assessments about the Black Caps since before he was a player. Photo / Getty Images

LONDON - Coach John Bracewell has been on too many cricket tours of England to take umbrage at what's being written about his side this week.

"I've been coming here since 1983 and New Zealand teams have been coming here a lot longer than that, with the same assessments," Bracewell said of the English press.

"They just open up the file and pull out the same stuff."

Even England star Kevin Pietersen managed to mention New Zealand in the same breath as lowly Bangladesh yesterday.

The three-test series starting here at Lord's on Thursday is a hard sell for the English scribes and, it appears, the players, as the more marketable South Africans loom after New Zealand return home.

Fresh from their 2-1 series win in New Zealand, England are short-priced favourites against an inexperienced touring side with Aaron Redmond and Daniel Flynn eyeing their debuts and teenager Tim Southee his second test.

But veteran cricket writer Scyld Berry did not hold back in reminding the tourists of their place in the world in the Sunday Telegraph newspaper.

"Why on earth are England playing New Zealand in the first place?" he asked.

"Indigent cousins have to be looked after, but to play them from February until the end of June is too much of a bad thing.

"To contest the Ashes next summer England now need opposition far more fibrous."

It seemed tailormade wallpaper for the New Zealand dressing room at Lord's.

Berry continued: "...there will be something seriously wrong with England, or the weather, if the hosts do not win this series 3-0.

"New Zealand will be overwhelmed by the occasion at Lord's, by the pace and bounce at Old Trafford and by the swing at Trent Bridge."

Pietersen, meanwhile, said New Zealand were a much under-rated side with few stars but "quality" batsmen and bowlers.

"Teams like Bangladesh, they don't have any world stars but they pull out victories every now and then and play some pretty good cricket," he added.