Back to the real cricket!

With the IPL extravaganza finally getting closer to a conclusion, some good and proper cricket starts tonight with the beginning of the two match test series between England and New Zealand. This series comes only a couple of months after an incredible 0-0 draw in New Zealand, where the English were lucky to escape with a drawn series. New Zealand pushed them hard, however it will be much tougher in England.

New Zealand have had a reasonable amount of time to prepare with two warm-up matches being played. The fact that their IPL players Brendon McCullum and Ross Taylor were able to arrive in England earlier than expected.They found it tough in their match against the England Lions though as the New Zealanders were bowled out for 285, with Hamish Rutherford the only one who scored anything of note - 126. Their bowlers struggled as the lions racked up 444/7 with Joe Root scoring 179.

In relation to the Test rankings, England are in 2nd narrowly ahead of India and Australia, and a mile behind runaway leaders South Africa. New Zealand are in 8th on 83 points and will be looking to spring an upset in order to catch up to 7th placed West Indies who are on 92 points.

Despite New Zealand's improved performances earlier this year against the same opposition, I'm predicting England to bounce back with some strong performances. They will want to get in some good form before the Ashes assignment later in the summer.

Squads
England (1st Test): A.Cook (c), J.Anderson, J.Bairstow, I.Bell, T.Bresnan, S.Broad, N.Compton, S.Finn, M.Prior, J.Root, G.Swann,  J.Trott
New Zealand: B. McCullum, T.Boult, D.Bracewell, D.Brownlie, P.Fulton, M.Gillespie, M.Guptill, T.Latham, B.Martin, H.Rutherford, T.Southee, R.Taylor, N.Wagner, BJ Watling, K.Williamson

Fixtures
16th May - 20th May: 1st Test @ Lord's, London
24th - 28th May: 2nd Test @ Headingley, Leeds

*Thought I better add - no disrespect intended to Bangladesh and Zimbabwe who just completed a series, but unfortunately the majority of cricket fans (not me) would have struggled to just know that series was on at all.