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MANCHESTER - A significant acid test looms for New Zealand's cricket batsmen in coming days on the bounciest surface since their November nightmare in South Africa.
Coach John Bracewell likened the Old Trafford pitch for the second test against England starting tomorrow night (NZ time) to a South
African or Australian surface on first inspection.
With England's pace attack, led by Ryan Sidebottom, vowing more of the short-pitched action seen during the drawn first test at Lord's, New Zealand batting coach Mark O'Neill has put in some hard work in the nets with his charges.
Last November, South African paceman Dale Steyn terrorised the New Zealand top order as the tourists lost by 358 runs in Johannesburg and an innings and 59 runs at Centurion.
With a new-look top-order including debut opener Aaron Redmond, New Zealand were 76 for four and 115 for four in each innings at Lord's, admittedly on a surface offering plenty of seam movement.
Redmond, James Marshall and Ross Taylor didn't top 20 in either innings but still had a good look at England's bowlers for over an hour.
England have summoned tall paceman Chris Tremlett into their 12 and resisted the urge to recall Steve Harmison who caused the New Zealand batsmen headaches in the 3-0 whitewash four years ago.
They're likely to keep faith with Sidebottom, James Anderson and Stuart Broad who were largely accurate at Lord's but found stumbling blocks in the form of Brendon McCullum, Jacob Oram and Daniel Vettori.
"It looks to be reasonably hard and there's a few plated cracks," Bracewell said of a pitch with a reputation as England's fastest.
"We're not that bothered. We get around the world a bit now, Australia, South Africa, it's probably more equivalent to that."
England have won four of their last five tests at Old Trafford, against Sri Lanka (2002), West Indies (2004), Pakistan (2006) and West Indies (2007), and drawn the other against Australia in 2005.
New Zealand have only played two tests here in the past 50 years, both drawn in 1994 and 1999.
Bracewell said his largely young side had bonded well so far on tour, where the bus travel from city to city was preferred to the endless airport visits of most other cricketing countries.
He took no offence to England captain Michael Vaughan's pre-series description of his side as "workmanlike" and rated the mood buoyant after Lord's.
"We went about our business pretty well. We had to be prised out on the last day which is something we've been looking for over the last couple of years.
"I was pleased with the way we bowled on the Sunday, to bowl England out for only a 40-run lead was a pretty good effort given that they'd got the better conditions of the pitch.
"Workmanlike, yes, but having said that, Jacob's and Brendon's innings showed a little bit of style and class as well.
"We don't mind that tag. I certainly don't mind our guys working hard and grafting out results."
Teenage paceman Tim Southee's fitness was the only concern after he missed Wednesday training due to a 48-hour bug which caused vomiting.
If he were ruled out, Iain O'Brien appeared the next in line after being 12th man at Lord's, although Bracewell didn't rule out Jeetan Patel's inclusion as an extra spinner, replicating the attack from the 189-run first test win in Hamilton in March.
McCullum batted in the nets here without discomfort after taking a nasty blow on the left forearm from Broad on day five at Lord's.
Interest was high in Manchester for the first two days, with just 800 tickets remaining in the 17,000-capacity stadium.
Competition is strong for the Saturday sporting market, with local boxing star Ricky Hatton set to fight Mexico's Juan Lazcano before 60,000 fans across town at the City of Manchester Stadium.
- NZPA