Panesar can turn series our way, claims England coach Moores

Rival left-arm spinner and opposition captain Daniel Vettori walked away from Lord’s last night with the player-of-the-match award, having taken five wickets and scored 48 precious runs as the Kiwis earned a draw comfortably enough.

But, come Friday and the start of the next match, Panesar can get to work on a patch of turf where he has enjoyed huge success in the last two summers.

Pushing hard: Monty Panesar celebrates dismissing Ross Taylor in the First Test

Last year, Panesar finished with figures of 10 for 187 as the West Indies were beaten by 60 runs.

Twelve months before that, he took eight for 93 while Pakistan were going down by an innings and 120 runs.

The 26-year-old probed without much joy during the opening Test of this summer’s first npower series, picking up only two wickets.

But his control delighted England coach Peter Moores.

“Monty bowled beautifully over the last few days at Lord’s and can be very pleased that he created pressure all the way through the game,” Moores said.

“As for Old Trafford, Monty will go there with confidence, knowing he is bowling well and also that he should find a pitch that will have something in it for him, especially as the game progresses.

He has done really well there in the past and had a great battle with Shivnarine Chanderpaul last year.”

Because Lancashire’s home ground now regularly produces the quickest, bounciest surfaces in this country, fast bowlers often have a field day as well.

But despite Old Trafford’s history, and even though Steve Harmison has produced some of his finest performances in Manchester, England have reinforced their squad with another tall paceman.

Chris Tremlett is almost certain to be 12th man on Friday, but the selectors have chosen him rather than Harmison now that Matthew Hoggard is out of the picture with a broken thumb.

“Tremlett is tall, he gets bounce and I think he showed last summer that he has a great chance of being a good Test  bowler,” Moores said.

“We’ve added him because we need four seamers in the squad, but we are quite happy with the way the lads bowled at Lord’s, so we won’t be looking to make any changes.”

The biggest concern about Tremlett is that the term injury-plagued has attached itself to his career. In New Zealand a couple of months ago, for example, he had a real opportunity to stake a claim, only to suffer a side strain.

"Even now he still needs to prove his fitness for Manchester by bowling for Hampshire in a Friends Provident Trophy match today after suffering a back spasm last week.

"But the selectors feel Tremlett is a better bet at present than Harmison.

“Steve is working very hard but we think it is time for him to go back to county cricket and get himself to where he wants to be,” Moores said.

It was Harmison who, four years ago, often provided the cutting edge as England whitewashed New Zealand 3-0.

This time, though, it looks as though Ryan Sidebottom, Jimmy Anderson, Stuart Broad and Panesar will be given every chance to do the job.

“I think we played some good cricket at Lord’s,” said Moores after a match badly hit by the weather finished with the Kiwis 227 runs ahead with four wickets standing.

“But we’ve said all along that as a team we’ve got more to come.

"We are settling as a side and have had a pretty good journey over 12 months. Now this summer is a great chance for us to try to beat New Zealand and set ourselves up for what will be another tough series against South Africa.”

England, meanwhile, are expected to seal the deal with Texan billionaire Sir Allen Stanford for a multi-million pound series of Twenty20 matches within the next week.

But, as suspected, the final negotiations concern how the money is split with centrally contracted players — like Test captain Michael Vaughan — who are not in the limitedovers reckoning expected to get a share.

“We are confident that the England Cricket Board and Professional Cricketers’ Association will manage any and all of the players’ issues on our behalf,” read a statement put out yesterday by the England team.