KEY POINTS:
After admitting his new role as New Zealand's strike weapon was not yet a snug fit, Chris Martin swiftly refined his new cricketing persona by questioning a damning assessment of the Black Caps attack.
It was hardly on a par with the pre-series barbs of Glenn McGrath -
or delivered with the menace of the West Indians at their peak - but Martin at least sought to defend his fellow bowlers after Andrew Strauss reckoned his English teammates would be sleeping easy after touching down for a two-month tour.
Shane Bond's likely absence from the Kiwi side due to his link with a rebel Indian league has already been noted by Strauss, who is logging some handy pre-tour innings with Northern Districts.
Strauss, on the comeback trail after being dropped for England's 1-0 series loss in Sri Lanka last month, said if Bond was unavailable due to his signing for the rebel Twenty/20 league in India, the New Zealand bowling attack would be seriously under-powered.
"We'll rest a bit easier at night if he's not playing. You pretty much know what you're going to get [with the other bowlers] - we know what they're capable of."
Martin, who took 13 wickets at 16.92 against the hapless Bangladeshis, returned serve after New Zealand wrapped up their series at the Basin Reserve on Monday.
"He's [Strauss] said a lot of things in the media over the years that can come across as a little bit arrogant and a little bit cocky - you just take that sort of stuff with a grain of salt," said Martin, who is assured of taking the new ball in the three-test series in March.
The mild-mannered right armer also suggested the English, while familiar with most of the New Zealand bowlers, had not yet seen them at their peak - a claim vindicated by their last meeting in 2004.
New Zealand were outplayed at Lords, Headingley and Trent Bridge, losing the test series 3-0.
"They haven't seen the best of us, particularly that last tour where, as a bowling unit, we didn't bowl very well at all," Martin said.
He was involved in that unsuccessful journey and further proved his argument by returning home with six wickets at 52.33 - and a best of three for 94.
Daryl Tuffey, Chris Cairns, James Franklin, Jacob Oram and Scott Styris also suffered in the seam department, leaving Daniel Vettori to staunch the bleeding.
Cairns has subsequently retired, Tuffey is on the rebel Twenty/20 payroll and Franklin is recuperating from knee surgery.
England arrive on January 27.
- NZPA
