New Zealand reinforced by five

New Zealand captain Jamie How battles against Kent

New Zealand’s big five will gather in Chelmsford on Thursday following a low-key start to their first-class tour of England.

Heavy rain restricted the final two days of their drawn match against Kent at Canterbury to just 38.2 overs but, having used an under-strength side, they will be able to select their first-choice XI in their next outing, against Essex on Friday.

Unlike England, whose limited preparation extended to five days of cricket leading into the three-match series in New Zealand last month, the tourists have two further first-class fixtures ahead of the opening npower Test at Lord’s.

Captain Daniel Vettori, Brendon McCullum and Ross Taylor will all be available for the four-day match along with fellow Indian Premier League players Jacob Oram and Kyle Mills, who arrived on Tuesday.

“It is great to have our best players back but the young guys have had a nice little time to break into the tour,” said acting captain Jamie How.

“We were expecting some rain at this time of year and that is why we have quite a packed schedule.

“There is plenty of time left, we did get a bit of a workout in this game but obviously not as much as we hoped for.”

Fears of an ‘us and them’ scenario developing between the highly-paid quintet and New Zealand’s young up-and-coming players on the tour, meanwhile, was shot down by How.

How watches the rain come down at Canterbury

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"It could seem like a danger but this team is a pretty tight unit and the senior players that have been away are special kind of ‘team-first’ players,” he said.

“They are looking forward to joining in with the tour, working hard with us and sharing a few of their Indian stories, no doubt.”

Despite being a team in transition at Test level following the retirements of Stephen Fleming, Nathan Astle, Scott Styris, Craig McMillan and Shane Bond, the New Zealanders believe they can punch above their weight once more, having defeated England in Hamilton last month.

“We just played well in that first Test,” said How, who took the Kent attack for an unbeaten 53 in the Black Caps’ 92 for one on the second day.

“England might have been surprised, I am not sure, but we just strung together a lot of good sessions, and the two matches we lost, we let ourselves down with a few bad sessions here and there.

“We are a young side and if we string together good sessions we are going to be competitive.

“As Kiwis we enjoy being the underdogs; we are confident and will go about our work and come that first Test we will be up to speed.”