Oram wary of England backlash

Jacob Oram appeals for an lbw against Kevin Pietersen in the second ODI © Getty Images

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Jacob Oram underlined New Zealand's determination to wrap up a one-day series win on Friday by remaining highly cautious of a potential England backlash at Eden Park.

New Zealand's premier all-rounder has been as mystified as the rest of his team-mates at the turnaround in the tourists' fortunes since they cruised to comfortable victories in the two Twenty20 Internationals.

Since then they have been humiliated with comprehensive defeats in Wellington and Hamilton to put New Zealand firmly on course for victory in the five-match series.

But Oram and the New Zealand squad are remaining focused and refusing to become carried away at the ease of their victories as they await what they regard as the inevitable response from England.

"In no way are we getting complacent in the changing room," stressed Oram. "They've got some serious players who haven't fired a shot on this tour yet and we know that full well.

"We have to keep our standards up and hope we can keep them down for as long as possible. I'm sure there are certain guys in their team that at some stage will fire, but we just have to try and prolong that and hopefully it doesn't happen all at once for them.

"We know they'll come back and we were expecting it yesterday, to be honest. We managed to keep them down but I'm sure it's not far away so it's up to us to try and squash that so it doesn't happen soon."

Dimitri Mascarenhas bowls in practice on Wednesday

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Oram is aware that after the end of this current series, New Zealand have back-to-back Test series at home and away against England before embarking on another five-match one-day series against the same opponents which does not finish until June.

With that in mind, New Zealand are keen to set the tone for the months ahead with victory in the current series to confound critics who believed the tourists would be dominant throughout their tour.

"We want to win the series and we want to play well but at the same time we know it's going to be a massive four or five months against these guys and we'd like to start off on the right foot," said Oram.

"We didn't in the Twenty20 matches but the real stuff has started now and we're looking to be positive and aggressive and to also win and so far, so good."

If they are to continue that run of form, however, Oram expects them to have to overcome an England side made stronger by the introduction of Hampshire all-rounder Dimitri Mascarenhas, who impressed with his performances in the two Twenty20 matches.

"If I'm honest I was surprised he was left out of the Wellington match after how well he struck it during the Twenty20 matches, but also how he managed to get on top of our batsmen with his medium pace variations and hitting the seam as well," said Oram.

"I was surprised for the Wellington game and obviously there were reasons behind that which I wasn't privy to. Wellington's conditions would probably have suited him down to the ground - slow, low with a little bit of nibble in the wicket as well.

"He would have been tough to face on that, but also the nature of the two pitches we've played on, if he'd have got himself in and got a chance to swing away he could have been extremely dangerous."