Moores points to aggression as key for England

Peter Moores wants his England side to impose themselves on New Zealand as they attempt to reclaim their position as the second best Test team in the world. Australia remain, by some distance, Test cricket's No 1 but a 3-0 win over the Black Caps in the series which starts tomorrow at Lord's would lift England from fourth to the position they lost following the series defeat to Sri Lanka before Christmas.

England have been in a state of flux since they regained the Ashes in 2005. Injury has deprived the team of several key figures and they now have a new coach and backroom staff. Moores took over from Duncan Fletcher just over a year ago and he feels that the time is right for his side to find and show their identity.

"I will not sit here and say we are going to do this, this and this in a public forum, but we want to play aggressive, vibrant cricket, and we think we can," Moores said yesterday. "With any team, whether it is football, rugby or cricket it becomes clear over time what style of game it plays when it plays well. It is dictated by the individuals and it happens when players settle in. We have been through some changes and have some new personnel. Ryan Sidebottom now has 12 months of international cricket behind him, as do I and we have now been able to identify what is the right way forward for this group of players to become a very successful team."

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Andrew Flintoff will miss the first two Tests of the summer but Moores believes it is only a matter of time before he returns to the international stage. "We would have selected Freddie in the squad had he been fit," admitted Moores. "It would have given us a chance to assess at first hand for the first time exactly where he is. The decision was taken out of our hands, but the side strain seems a minor injury, a common one for bowlers, and we hope he gets over it quickly so we can see where we are after that.

"Every side likes a bowler that bowls at 90mph. They are a rare breed. The advantage with Fred is that he bowls quickly and accurately, too. You can't always have them and as Ryan Sidebottom has shown, bowlers that don't bowl at that speed can be successful, too. But every side would like one and I am yet to meet a batsman who enjoys facing them."

Moores strongly suggested that England will field the same team who won the final two Tests in New Zealand, with the only change being the captain Michael Vaughan moving down to No 3 and Andrew Strauss opening the batting.