England Prepared for Kiwi Threat

Auckland: England captain Stuart Broad says New Zealand will be formidable opponents in the three-match Twenty20 series, which begins in Auckland on Saturday.

The Kiwis have lost eight of their last 10 Test matches but beat South Africa away in a one-day series last month.

New Zealand, who have reached the semi-finals of the last two 50-over World Cup tournaments, have won 27 of their 62 T20 internationals, losing their most recent series 2-1 in South Africa last December.

Their most recent T20 meeting with England was in September in a Super Eights match at the ICC World T20, when Broad's team recorded a six-wicket victory, although neither side qualified for the semi-finals.

Broad has recovered from the heel injury that hampered him on the tour of India and the 26-year-old said: "The body feels good. It was nice to get through those games and take some wickets so the confidence is high."

England pace bowler Jade Dernbach had a difficult tour of India earlier this year, with 2-64 in seven overs in the T20 matches.

In the one-day series he was England's most expensive bowler, his five wickets costing 49 runs apiece with an economy rate of 7.34 runs per over, and the 26-year-old was left out of the final match, which England won to make the final score 3-2 to India.

Broad is confident Dernbach will be a different proposition on the seamer-friendly New Zealand wickets, however and said: "He's a confident guy. He bowls at pretty difficult times of the innings. Bowling at the death in T20 cricket is about wanting to do it.

New Zealand, ranked eighth in all three formats of the game, welcome back Ross Taylor after he resigned as Test captain when coach Mike Hesson preferred Brendon McCullum as limited overs skipper.

Taylor opted to miss the tour of South Africa but is now back in the team and McCullum said: "There's not too much to discuss from our point of view, we're fine, we've both stated that in the media, and we're looking forward to getting out and playing some cricket together.

Teams from

New Zealand: Brendon McCullum (captain & wk), Trent Boult, Ian Butler, Grant Elliott, Andrew Ellis, James Franklin, Martin Guptill, Ronnie Hira, Nathan McCullum, Mitchell McClenaghan, Colin Munro, Hamish Rutherford, Ross Taylor, Jimmy Neesham

England: Stuart Broad (captain), Jos Buttler (wk), Jonathan Bairstow, Jade Dernbach, Steven Finn, Alex Hales, James Harris, Michael Lumb, Stuart Meaker, Eoin Morgan, Samit Patel, Joe Root, James Tredwell, Chris Woakes, Luke Wright

Pitch and conditions
It is a drop-in surface at Eden Park and is expected to be of decent pace, ideal for Twenty20 cricket. The forecast is for a warm, sunny day leading to a very pleasant evening.

Stats and trivia

• England have only lost once in six T20s against New Zealand. Their most recent meeting was at the World T20 in Sri Lanka when England won by six wickets.

Match facts
Saturday February 9, 2013 (day/night)
Start time 7.00pm local (0600 GMT, 07:00 EST)