New Zealand v England: hosts unlikely to win a Test as T20 now priority Hundreds if not thousands of England supporters are expected, and they will find plenty of room, even though the capacity of the University Oval is 6,000, no bigger than Chesterfield or Worcester. Test cricket in New Zealand has never attracted large local crowds, except in the 1980s when Richard Hadlee put the wind up Australia and exacted collective revenge for New Zealand being treated as Australia's poor relations. England have had the same relationship with New Zealand as master and pupil, or benevolent uncle and nephew, in spite of the cheeky slap that a New Zealand XI administered yesterday in Queenstown. Australia ignored their neighbours until after the Second World War, leaving England to nurture the game in New Zealand with tours, coaches and concern. But now Test cricket is reaching a critical juncture in New Zealand, and a thorough performance by Alastair Cook's side this month could make matters terminally worse. On New Zealand's tour to Sri Lanka last autumn not a single member of New Zealand's newspaper or radio media accompanied the party, for the first time ever, such is the lack of interest. New Zealand is the only country where women's Test cricket, having flourished, has become extinct. In the rankings of all three formats of international cricket, New Zealand's men currently come eighth; but the difference is that nobody comes below them in the Test rankings except Bangladesh, who are pointless. Rather than prioritising their Test future, New Zealand's board prefer to invest in 20-over cricket and Florida. They have staged four T20 internationals at Lauderhill during their off-season in May, June and July. Thus enabled, their leading players like Vettori, Ross Taylor and Brendon McCullum could easily become 20-over players all year round, in New Zealand and Florida and the ever-increasing tournaments elsewhere, from the Big Bash to Bangladesh and the IPL. New Zealand might seem a suitable venue for the day-night Test cricket that the MCC World Committee urge for countries where the turn-out is low. But Dunedin will be cold enough by day, the Basin Reserve at Wellington is where the Roaring Forties often chose to come ashore, and even at the grounds in the north of North Island, which might be climatically suitable, the problem remains that crowds will not flock to see the hosts lose. Excluding Bangladesh and Zimbabwe, New Zealand have won only 55 Tests ever since 1930, out of 355, the lowest proportion of any of the major Test-playing countries. In this Millennium, excluding Bangladesh and Zimbabwe, New Zealand have averaged one Test victory per year. New Zealand's relative strengths are their middle-order batting, where the doggedness should surface as the ball gets old, and their fast-medium bowling. Elsewhere, their resources are so thin that Peter Fulton has been given the chance to open at the age of 34, after averaging 20 in Tests before, while Vettori's replacement as a left-arm spinner Bruce Martin averages 36 in his domestic first-class career, and took no wicket for Auckland in Dunedin last month. In these circumstances, less demanding than usual in Test cricket, England have the opportunity to experiment with younger batsmen ahead of the back-to-back Ashes. Nick Compton and Joe Root deserve first go, and then Jonny Bairstow, the one most suited to replacing Kevin Pietersen as a match-winning aggressor when the time comes.