Cricket: Tuffey rarin' to go with the white ball

By MARK GEENTY in Manchester

After a long wait and several false starts, New Zealand's bowling spearhead Daryl Tuffey feels ready to finally make it count on his nightmare tour of England.

He will lead the attack into tomorrow's tri-series opener against England at Old Trafford, still scratching his head over his poor test form, but in the same breath keen to forget it.

Throwing him the white Kookaburra ball instead of the red Duke is a sound start.

"I never really got to grips with being able to swing the ball here, the seam didn't really come out right, but with the white ball it's coming out nicely," Tuffey said after a solid net session at Old Trafford.

"It's more familiar, so I'm pretty happy to get it back in the hand.

"It's a mental shift now and I felt a lot better in the warm-up games, I've taken a big step forward."

Tuffey lacked sharpness in the first two tests, was down on pace and was dropped for the third after taking just three wickets in 66 overs at 82 runs apiece.

He and his new partner, James Franklin, have made life uncomfortable for county batsmen in the past week with swing and seam.

Tuffey might still be searching for that extra yard of pace, but he has gone back to simple line and length, which has served him well in the past, for 87 wickets from 69 one-dayers at 28.52 and a happy knack of taking wickets in his first over.

Franklin has been the revelation and Tuffey said it added a new dimension with the variation of a left-armer as they look to quell England's confident batting line-up, including captain Michael Vaughan and first-test hero Andrew Strauss.

Prolific left-hander Marcus Trescothick was in doubt with an ankle sprain, and his absence would be a huge boost for the tourists, and key allrounder Andrew Flintoff is even more doubtful with a foot injury.

Tuffey will bowl the overs at the end of the innings, alongside Chris Cairns, who did the job ably against Northamptonshire on Monday .

Tuffey's renewed confidence was reflected among his team-mates, said coach John Bracewell, who was adamant any mental scars from the test hiding were gone.

New Zealand were back in familiar one-day colours, which had carried them to nine wins out of 11 at home, and were eyeing nothing less than a place in the July 10 final.

Teams

New Zealand (from): Stephen Fleming (capt), Nathan Astle, Hamish Marshall, Scott Styris, Craig McMillan, Chris Cairns, Jacob Oram, Brendon McCullum, Daniel Vettori, James Franklin, Daryl Tuffey, Chris Harris, Michael Papps, Ian Butler.

England (from): Michael Vaughan (capt), Marcus Trescothick, Robert Key, Geraint Jones, Andrew Strauss, Paul Collingwood, Andrew Flintoff, Anthony McGrath, Ian Blackwell, Rikki Clarke, Ashley Giles, James Anderson, Darren Gough, Stephen Harmison, Sajid Mahmood.

- NZPA