Moores Rules Out Quick England Return for Hoggard and Harmison

English excitement about the makings of a brave new seam-bowling world following victory in the second Test at Wellington was not dampened yesterday when the head coach, Peter Moores, said there would be no immediate return to the services of Matthew Hoggard and Steve Harmison ahead of the series decider against New Zealand at Napier.

Hoggard and Harmison, who have taken 460 Test wickets between them, were replaced by James Anderson and Stuart Broad after a dismal showing in the first Test defeat at Hamilton. However, the England coach, buoyed by a first win in eight Tests, insisted that the two most experienced bowlers in his squad would now have to take their place in the newly formed queue.

"You can get into the side in two ways," Moores said ahead of the Test starting on Friday night. "Either by someone not performing well or by performing exceptionally well and forcing them out. It would have to be one or the other. At the moment, for the lads who have got possession, that's always a strong place to be. Broad, Anderson and [Ryan] Sidebottom are in at the moment and if they keep playing well they're going to give themselves a great chance of carrying on."

Moores denied the England squad had lapsed into complacency before the team was changed for Wellington, but his insistence that the 31-year-old Hoggard in particular has "still got a lot of bowling left in him, which is good for us because we've got to make a squad which is very competitive" can be read as an attempt to keep all the bowlers on their toes ahead of a game England cannot afford to lose. Defeat would mean a third successive Test series loss for the first time in eight years, and that would place Moores under pressure.

The spirit of internal competition was underlined by the captain, Michael Vaughan, who told Talksport: "I must stress that Matthew Hoggard and Steve Harmison will fight to get back in the team. You could tell that they were very hurt, as you would expect them to be. But the way they have reacted, the way they have knuckled down this week and trained, it's exactly what I want. They basically came up to me and said, 'I'll get my place back'. I want them fighting to get their places."

So far, selectorial ruthlessness has not extended to the faltering batting line-up, which is expected to remain unchanged for Napier after the 126-run win at Wellington. It required a newcomer in the form of the wicketkeeper Tim Ambrose, however, to score England's first century of the tour and so far this winter the top six have managed just one hundred - Alastair Cook's at Galle - in five Tests.

The malaise is all-encompassing. Kevin Pietersen has not reached 50, let alone three figures, in 10 Test innings, while others have waited even longer. Vaughan's last Test hundred was 13 innings ago, Paul Collingwood's was 18, Ian Bell's 22 and Andrew Strauss' 30.

The New Zealand coach, John Bracewell, was especially happy that his bowlers had so far limited Pietersen to an average of 24 and a strike-rate of 40. "He's a class player and scores at a rate that generates results," said Bracewell. "Every Test team needs one of those players. We're really pleased how we've bowled to him and cut him down in terms of strike-rate."

Bracewell attempted to ratchet up the psychological pressure on England by saying they arrived as "odds-on favorites to win, heavily so", and has called the 19-year-old swing bowler Tim Southee into his squad as he seeks to cover all eventualities on what is expected to be another Napier belter.

The sides scored 340 each during the tied one-day international at McLean Park last month, but Bracewell insists that the venue offers movement in the air early on. Southee, who impressed during the Twenty20 series in February, was the leading wicket-taker at the recent Under-19 World Cup.