Skipper Vaughan vows to get Test team back on track by taking the early initiative

After years of keeping the intended XI under wraps until the morning of the game, captain Michael Vaughan surprised everyone at Seddon Park by naming his side within minutes of the final practice session and before leaving for some more massage on "a little bit of a dodgy neck".

"We've told all the players so we might as well tell everyone else," said Vaughan, who insisted there was no danger of him missing a match which starts at 9.30pm tonight, UK time.

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Given that the team is precisely the one everybody has been predicting since things fell neatly into place towards the end of last week's final practice match in Dunedin, there is no reason why England should not be free and easy with their information. It is just refreshing to see them taking the initiative for a change.

New Zealand, who are tempted to play second spinner Jeetan Patel on a pitch they expect to be particularly dry and devoid of pace, will keep their options open until the toss.

But England have confirmed that Andrew Strauss will bat at No3, Australia-born wicketkeeper Tim Ambrose will make his Test debut and have settled on a three-pronged pace attack of Ryan Sidebottom, Steve Harmison and Matthew Hoggard.

Which leaves Monty Panesar to provide the spin. This Test, though, is not so much about who England play but how they play.

Two consecutive series losses - at home to India and away to Sri Lanka - have seen them drop from second to fifth in the world rankings. Worse, they went down without much more than a whimper just before Christmas by losing in Kandy, drawing without ever threatening anything better in Colombo and then only being saved by the rain in Galle after a dreadful first innings collapse to 81 all out.

No wonder England's now ex-chairman of selectors, David Graveney, said a couple of months ago that the team's senior players needed to stand up and deliver in New Zealand.

Having seen the Kiwis confound most predictions by winning the recent one-day series 3-1, no one should write them off over these three Tests before a ball has been bowled. But the visitors have the class to win if the likes of Vaughan, Kevin Pietersen, Hoggard and Harmison respond to Graveney's urgings.

"We feel this is the start of a time when we can begin to play some good cricket," said Vaughan. "These are the kind of conditions that should suit our style of play, and we've got six matches against New Zealand, away and then at home, over the next few months in which to try to get our Test game back on track.

"But before we can even think about winning we have to go through the real work, and that begins with starting this game well. Whether we start as favourites or underdogs is really irrelevant to the dressing room because you have to go out there and fight, earn the right to play well, respect the opposition and respect situations which we get ourselves in.

"And then, if we get on top, make sure we stay on top."

England were on top for the first morning of the First Test in Sri Lanka with Hoggard striking four quick blows. From then on, though, it was pretty much downhill all the way.

Hoggard, struggling with a back problem, managed only three more wickets in the series; Harmison did not make the side until after the Kandy defeat and had to bowl 76 overs for his six wickets; star batsman Pietersen came away without even a half-century and Vaughan only led by example in Colombo, where he and Alastair Cook shared two century stands.

"Generally when you win series your top players have good series," said the captain.

Meanwhile, Phil Mustard, England's reserve Test keeper, went to hospital for treatment after having his nose broken in the nets today when a ball ricocheted into his face.