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England Women name line-up for series opener against New Zealand

Image: Michaela Staniford: Back on the wing for England

England will see the return of several experienced players for their series opener against world champions New Zealand on Friday.

Experience

Street added: "The great thing about the England programme is that we have got great strength and depth in our squad now and you can see that from our bench. For us it is invaluable when you are taking on a side as good as New Zealand that you can bring on players with this sort of experience." It was a year ago that England last played New Zealand with England coming back from their 2010 World Cup heartache to defeat the Black Ferns twice. The two sides then drew the final clash. "Playing New Zealand over this series last year was definitely the highlight of our season," Street added. "To try and be the best we have to play the best regularly, and even though we think we have moved on as a squad from 12 months ago, we know that the Black Ferns will be more motivated than ever to come over here and reverse that result." England: 15 Danielle Waterman, 14 Katherine Merchant, 13 Emily Scarratt, 12 Alice Richardson, 11 Michaela Staniford, 10 Katy McLean (C), 9 Natasha Hunt, 8 Sarah Hunter, 7 Marlie Packer, 6 Heather Fisher, 5 Rowena Burnfield, 4 Tamara Taylor, 3 Laura Keates, 2 Victoria Fleetwood, 1 Rochelle Clark.
Replacements: 16 Emma Croker, 17 Rosemarie Crowley, 18 Sophie Hemming, 19 Emily Braund, 20 Alexandra Matthews, 21 Georgina Gulliver, 22 Francesca Matthews, 23 Joanne Watmore.

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