Fulton and Southee back in for NZ

Peter Fulton and Tim Southee have both been included in the New Zealand squad for the third test against England at Trent Bridge, Nottingham, starting on Thursday.

Earlier today captain Daniel Vettori told reporters, "Brendon has had a bit of a tough time with his back and he will have a run around in practice. We will have to make a decision tomorrow morning. He is not in doubt to bat but there is a possibility he might not be able to keep."

Reserve keeper Gareth Hopkins has been placed on standby for a test debut, but wasn't named in the 12 after McCullum came through a searching fitness test with the gloves under welcome sunny skies.

Meanwhile, The England selectors named an unchanged twelve-man squad. ECB national selector Geoff Miller said on June 1, "We were delighted with the way the team fought back to win the 2nd Test at Old Trafford and there were some excellent individual performances from Andrew Strauss and Monty Panesar which helped turn the game our way. There are still areas in which we can improve on as a side. We are aware of the need to post bigger first innings totals on a more regular basis and that we have to bowl well as a unit in order to counter the strength of the New Zealand middle order.

"But overall we are pleased with the progress the team is making and have chosen the same group of players for this Test Match. We have won three out of our last four Test Matches and we will be looking to win again at Trent Bridge and take that momentum into the Test series against South Africa later in the summer."

Whereas Michael Vaughan told, "It's quite incredible really and it shows we have won a few games. We feel we are developing as a side. We understand there are areas where we can improve on but we are showing a lot of character and resilience in positions that we might not have done six or seven months ago and that is always a good place to start developing a team from.

"We realise that scoring runs in the first innings is something we have to try and do, certainly to beat the better teams in the world you have to do that more consistently. It's consistency all round that we need to improve to become a top team."

New Zealand Squad:
Dan Vettori (captain), Daniel Flynn, Peter Fulton, Jamie How, Chris Martin, Kyle Mills, Brendon McCullum, Iain O’Brien, Jacob Oram, Aaron Redmond, Tim Southee, Ross Taylor

England Squad:
Michael Vaughan (captain),Tim Ambrose, James Anderson, Ian Bell, Stuart Broad, Paul Collingwood, Alastair Cook, Kevin Pietersen, Monty Panesar, Ryan Sidebottom, Andrew Strauss, Chris Tremlett.