Captain Vettori calls for calm

New Zealand's Daniel Vettori wants discipline from his young side at Old Trafford

Daniel Vettori has challenged his young New Zealand team to adapt to the pace and bounce of Old Trafford but not get carried away with it.

New Zealand play their first Test in Manchester since 1999 with the npower series level at what has become an England stronghold.

Four of the last five Tests here have been home wins, with Australia hanging on for a draw nine wickets down in the other.

Paceman Steve Harmison, overlooked for the fourth time in as many matches, and spinner Monty Panesar are two of the bowlers to profit due to the pronounced lift from the pitch.

“No, we don’t come across too many fast, bouncy wickets and probably around the world these days you don’t come across too many,” said Vettori.

“Even Perth has lost a little bit of its reputation so it will be a new experience for us.

“But I guess for a lot of our new guys every Test match situation is a new experience, so this is just a new one to try to adapt to.

“I played here in ’99 and probably would have called it a low, slow turner, so it is going to be completely different.

“Just like any situation going around the world, the team that adapts to it best is going to get the result on the day.”

Jesse Ryder could be back in New Zealand colours soon in England © Getty Images

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With the surface already cracked, the Black Caps might have been persuaded to draft in second spinner Jeetan Patel to reunite the slow-bowling partnership with Vettori.

But they have chosen to retain the same dozen who were named for the first Test at Lord’s, with the final place between teenager Tim Southee and Iain O’Brien to be decided on Friday morning.

Southee has been ill this week but returned to practice today, hoping to win his third cap.

Whoever is chosen, however, has been urged to maintain their discipline rather than overplay the pitch’s assistance.

“Sometimes bowlers get carried away with extra pace and bounce so it is almost they how have to adapt more than the batsmen,” Vettori said.

“That is the key thing we will be stressing now: you can get excited about it but the same lengths on a bouncy wicket are the same lengths on what we played on at Lord’s, so we don’t want to change too much.”

Meanwhile, rising one-day star Jesse Ryder is in a fitness race to make the NatWest Series here next month.

Hard-hitting batsman Ryder would have been in the Test squad but for a late-night incident in March when he put his fist through a glass window and severed tendons in his right hand.

“We are taking it day by day,” Vettori said. “He has just started hitting balls, if he is right he is right, if he is not we are not going to force the issue.

“He quickly became an important part of our side with his performances in the one-dayers back home.

“We want him back as quick as we can but we don’t want to push him as the Champions Trophy is coming up and that is pretty important to us. If he is not right he won’t tour.”