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England may be tempted to make changes for their one-dayer against New Zealand on Tuesday (today), with Ravi Bopara and Monty Panesar set to come into contention.

Having beaten the Black Caps in Hobart, victory could go a long way to sealing England’s place in the series final. And Panesar could be recalled given the traditional impact of spinners at the Adelaide Oval, while Bopara may debut at the expense of out-of-form Ed Joyce.

New Zealand will be without pace bowler Shane Bond who has a back problem. However, Jacob Oram is in contention after shaking off the hamstring problem that kept him out of Sunday’s narrow defeat to Australia.

And seamer Kyle Mills, who has been sidelined by a knee problem, has also joined the squad in Australia and could play in what he describes as a “crucial” game. “It’s a pretty crucial game for us, if we can win we’ll be back on level terms with England and then have four games to go,” he said. “There’s still a fair bit of the series to go but this one is very important for us for the rest of it,” he added.

Meanwhile, wicket-keeper Paul Nixon says he is happy in his role as one of the team’s elder statesman, saying: “Throughout time, we are all custodians of the game and someone like myself hopefully has a lot of knowledge and wisdom to give these young lads”.

“I enjoy chatting to them, as when I was youngster I had the likes of David Gower, Jon Agnew, Les Taylor, Phil DeFreitas talking to me at Leicestershire - I think it’s important everyone tries to pass on the knowledge,” he explained.

“There is time, particularly on tours like this where there is one-on-one time when players are travelling on aircraft, to sit and talk and that is vital for English cricket,” he added. Squads: England (from): A Flintoff (captain), MB Loye, AJ Strauss, IR Bell, PD Collingwood, RS Bopara, JWM Dalrymple, PA Nixon (wicket-keeper), JM Anderson, J Lewis, MS Panesar, CT Tremlett, EC Joyce, SI Mahmood, LE Plunkett, CMW Read.

New Zealand (from): SP Fleming (captain), AR Adams, NJ Astle, JEC Franklin, PG Fulton, MR Gillespie, BB McCullum (wicket-keeper), CD McMillan, HJH Marshall, MJ Mason, JS Patel, RL Taylor, DL Vettori, KD Mills, JDP Oram.

Source:The News