Thorpe pleased with England's progress

England batsman Graham Thorpe believes the team's one-day international win over New Zealand in Napier was a great morale booster as the tourists attempt to level the five-match series in Auckland on Saturday.

England's 43-run victory on Wednesday cut New Zealand's lead in the series to 2-1.

"We are playing much better cricket than we were two or three days ago," Thorpe said.

"By winning a game where the level of performance was encouraging, has really helped our confidence.

"Now all we've got to do is stay focussed and do it again. We did it in India, but it's not much fun always coming from behind."

Thorpe is a much happier man than when he left Ahmedabad near the end of the tour of India to attend to domestic problems back in Surrey.

"This is a great place to tour," he said. "I am miles better. In India it wasn't easy for me to focus on the cricket, but you have to move on and enjoy your sport. I'm much more relaxed now and I am enjoying myself."

Thorpe hit a run-a-ball 52 in Napier in sharp contrast to skipper Nasser Hussain's 48-ball 24, but Thorpe dismisses any talk of moving up to third in the order ahead of the captain.

"I'm happy at number four or five," he said. "Any talk of me moving up one won't be heard in our dressing room."

The fourth match of the series will be played on a portable pitch at Eden Park, the second time one has been used there.

UNKNOWN QUANTITY

The first time was for the first test against Pakistan last year, which New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming said was an unknown quantity.

"We ended up getting thrashed on it, so I hope this one's better," Fleming said.

The chances are it will be slow, which doesn't augur well for a run-feast.

Also, the weather forecast is pessimistic -- as it has at all venues England have played on this tour -- and seasoned Auckland weather-watchers warn that it would not be a surprise to see the match put back to Sunday.

Fleming said that while New Zealand played poorly in the Napier loss, there were a couple of instances where they were only five overs short of getting dominance.

"We didn't push on," he said. "We had plenty of mental calls along the way and we needed to be ready to adjust all the time.

"England didn't allow that for the first time in the series. We don't want to be hitting the 40th over with too many wickets down because that's where you come unstuck and we certainly did the other night."

England's win in Napier did Auckland Cricket a favour by ensuring Saturday' s match was a 35,500 sell-out.

Mail Cricket Editor