Panesar returns to happy hunting ground
There is nothing to split England and New Zealand after a truncated opening Test at Lord's, but the visitors will have travelled north to Old Trafford heartened by their performance
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Match facts
Friday May 23 to Tuesday May 27, 2008 Start time 11.00 (10.00GMT)Big Picture
There is nothing to split these two teams after a truncated opening Test at Lord's, but New Zealand will have travelled north to Old Trafford heartened by their performance. They batted when conditions were best for bowling and restricted England to 319 when the sun came out. For all England's talk about positive cricket there wasn't an awful lot of it on show as the middle order failed to build on a century opening stand and the bowlers struggled for breakthroughs with the older ball. However, they have positive memories of Old Trafford having won three of their last four Tests on the ground and drawn the other with Australia nine wickets down. But New Zealand have shown they are up for a fight and with three of their big guns - Jacob Oram, Daniel Vettori and Brendon McCullum - finding form it should be another compelling contest.Form guide
England DLWWDNew Zealand WWLLD
Watch out for...
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Team news
England have named an unchanged team for the fourth Test in a row. James Anderson did enough at Lord's to be given a chance on his home ground, although the temptation will have been there to utilise Chris Tremlett's extra bounce. The middle order is again under pressure after a below-par effort in the first Test, especially Paul Collingwood who has shown precious little form this season.Pitch and conditions
Old Trafford could argue that it now has the quickest pitch in the world and this surface is expected to be another with something for everyone. The batsmen will enjoy the ball coming onto the bat, the quicks know they'll get reward for bending their backs and the spinners can expect some turn later in the game. On the weather front it looks like typical Manchester. There is a forecast for showers on Friday, Saturday looks the best day at the moment with some uncertainty over rest.Stats and Trivia
Quotes
"I enjoy bowling here because the wicket has a bit of pace and bounce and my style of spin suits this kind of wicket and my record shows that. I like the pace of the wicket here because the ball often gathers pace after bouncing and it turns quite sharply - my kind of pace suits this kind of wicket."Monty Panesar looks forward to his return to Old Trafford
John Bracewell explains why he didn't stop McCullum batting again after his injury at Lord's
Andrew McGlashan is a staff writer at Cricinfo