Well not long after England won 2-1 in New Zealand, here we go again.

Fixtures
April 2008
Sun 27
10:45 local, 09:45 GMT  Marylebone Cricket Club v New Zealanders
Arundel Castle Cricket Club Ground
 
Mon 28 - Wed 30
11:00 local, 10:00 GMT  Kent v New Zealanders
St Lawrence Ground, Canterbury
 
May 2008
Fri 2 - Mon 5
11:00 local, 10:00 GMT  Essex v New Zealanders
County Ground, Chelmsford
 
Thu 8 - Sun 11
11:00 local, 10:00 GMT  England Lions v New Zealanders
The Rose Bowl, Southampton
 
Thu 15 - Mon 19
11:00 local, 10:00 GMT  1st Test - England v New Zealand
Lord's, London
 
Fri 23 - Tue 27
11:00 local, 10:00 GMT  2nd Test - England v New Zealand
Old Trafford, Manchester
 
Fri 30 - Sun 1
11:00 local, 10:00 GMT  Northamptonshire v New Zealanders
County Ground, Northampton
 
June 2008
Thu 5 - Mon 9
11:00 local, 10:00 GMT  3rd Test - England v New Zealand
Trent Bridge, Nottingham
 
Wed 11
10:45 local, 09:45 GMT  Worcestershire v New Zealanders
County Ground, New Road, Worcester
 
Fri 13
17:30 local, 16:30 GMT  Only Twenty20 International - England v New Zealand
Old Trafford, Manchester
 
Sun 15
10:45 local, 09:45 GMT  1st ODI - England v New Zealand
Riverside Ground, Chester-le-Street
 
Wed 18
10:45 local, 09:45 GMT  2nd ODI - England v New Zealand
Edgbaston, Birmingham
 
Sat 21
10:45 local, 09:45 GMT  3rd ODI - England v New Zealand
County Ground, Bristol
 
Wed 25
10:45 local, 09:45 GMT  4th ODI - England v New Zealand
Kennington Oval, London
 
Sat 28
10:45 local, 09:45 GMT  5th ODI - England v New Zealand
Lord's, London

New Zealand Test squad:
Daniel Vettori (capt)
Daniel Flynn
Peter Fulton
Gareth Hopkins
Jamie How
Brendon McCullum (vice-capt)
James Marshall
Chris Martin
Kyle Mills
Iain O'Brien
Jacob Oram
Jeetan Patel
Aaron Redmond
Tim Southee
Ross Taylor
(Either Mark Gillespie or Michael Mason to be added)

Short-term replacements for IPL players:
Michael Mason
Mark Gillespie
Grant Elliott

One day international squad:
Daniel Vettori (capt)
Daniel Flynn
Mark Gillespie
Gareth Hopkins
Jamie How
Jacob Oram
Michael Mason
James Marshall
Kyle Mills
Brendon McCullum (vice-capt)
Jeetan Patel
Jesse Ryder
Scott Styris
Tim Southee
Ross Taylor

Never sure if these back to back series are a good or bad idea.

You have to back England for the tests, and I think we'll see a 2-0 result, with rain playing a part in the drawn test.

Why are they touring each other so soon? That New Zealand side has some new players but I think the result will be similar to the last series. New Zealand for ODIs and England for Tests.

cant see past england for the test. not so sure about the shorter games

Kent are thrashing New Zealand, 324/1 after the first day, Key pushing his England claims with a timely 150 odd not out.

Be sure to check out my preview on the homepage guys! http://www.simplycricket.net/index.php

Anyway, to update the tour so far, after the Kent game ended in a draw after rain, they beat Essex by 92 runs. They the England Lions tommorow, who have a strong squad out. 

12 man Lions Squad
Robert Key (captain)
Ravinder Bopara
Michael Carberry
Matthew Hoggard
Steven Kirby
Matt Prior
Graham Onions
Adil Rashid
Owais Shah
Graeme Swann
Chris Tremlett
Luke Wright

I think there are a few in that team that know a strong showing could well push them into the team.

Hoggard in particular will be looking to take over Anderson's place if he can.

I could see Flintoff being left out and both Broad and Hoggard playing to be honest. Broad, Sidey, Hoggard and Panesar would be a reasonably long tail but the top 7 should be able to deal with the runs. Flintoff playing would be good, but if Sidey and Broad play too then either Freddie or Broad will have to take the new ball and I don't think either have done that in international cricket.

In terms of the 'keepers, I think Ambrose is in possession and should keep it for now. Prior is putting pressure on with the runs but needs to up his keeping a level to be a serious contender.

Ambrose will start the series as keeper, whether he's there at the end is another matter.

It'll be a tough one on the bowling front but to be honest Flintoff is bowling very, very well and offers the greatest batting ability, something which England lack at the moment, especially after 6 or 7 down.  We may well see Monty miss out (the old early season in England cliché) and Hoggard being brought in for Anderson.  It'll be a lot clearer by Friday I reckon.

It will be interesting to see how NZ bat tomorrow. I guess this is the same team that will play against England, probably with 1 or 2 replacements.

A point about Panesar - people said the same thing last year mas, and he was man of the series against the WI this time last year!!

That is a good point but that was last year, he's lost something in his bowling in recent series, so the jury is still out slightly.

Monty got six wickets in his last innings in New Zealand! He's our best spinner by a mile, we should stick with him.

I still feel that he has lost something from his action, whether it was confidence related or because someone behind the scenes had been tinkering, I don't know but the mark of a great spinner is how they perform after they have been on the  circuit for a year or two. 

He has a lot of potential but you want to see that he is developing and adding new things to his game.

I just think he's suffering from a blip at the moment but he could also do with a creditable pretender to his throne - competition for places has to only be a good thing.

First squad has been announced with Hoggard back in the fray.  Would appear to be a straight fight between him and Anderson for the final spot.  Some doubt over Collingwood due to in injury though.

Full squad:

England squad: MP Vaughan (Yorkshire, capt), AN Cook (Essex), AJ Strauss (Middlesex), KP Pietersen (Hampshire), IR Bell (Warwickshire), PD Collingwood (Durham), TR Ambrose (Warwickshire, wkt), SCJ Broad (Nottinghamshire), RJ Sidebottom (Nottinghamshire), MS Panesar (Northamptonshire), JM Anderson (Lancashire), MJ Hoggard (Yorkshire)