Mills burden worries Kiwis

Mills: Key player

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New Zealand say they will carefully manage the workload of seamer Kyle Mills against England.

Mills underlined his importance to the Kiwis with 10 wickets in two Tests against England over the winter, including a match-winning spell of four wickets in 25 balls to help his side win the opening Test.

England fought back to win the series with victory in the final Test at Napier, when both all-rounder Jacob Oram (hip) and Mills (knee) were missing because of their punishing workload in the opening two Tests.

It is a lesson New Zealand are determined to learn for the forthcoming series with 29-year-old Mills being rested for the four-day match against England Lions, the tourists' final match before next week's opening Test at Lord's.

Captain Daniel Vettori, who also sits out the game starting today at the Rose Bowl after sustaining a cut left index finger during the victory at Essex, admitted: "He's one of those guys who hasn't got much of a first-class background and hasn't played a huge amount of cricket.

Injury risk

"Sometimes we find he has a propensity to get injured because he hasn't got that cricket under his belt. We're looking at him for the three Tests and for him to be still firing at the start of July for our last one-dayer.

"We want to be able to manage him through that knowing what happened to him with the workload back in New Zealand, so it's more a precautionary thing rather than getting them all bowling. He got through 30 overs in the last game, he can work here and hopefully be raring to go for three Test matches."

Mills will come back into the team for the first Test at Lord's alongside 19-year-old Tim Southee, who claimed five wickets in the first innings of the third Test in Napier.

He then hammered an unbeaten 77 of just 40 balls to cement his place in the team to face England next week, providing he can overcome a back injury.

"His performance in that Napier Test match was outstanding so he's right at the forefront in our mind in terms of selection and also for a long period of time," said Vettori.

"He's got that natural talent, particularly with the ball, and we've got small resources and if Tim goes the way he did in his first Test match then he's got real potential.

"He's a pretty low-key guy, nothing much fazes him and he's got a really good understanding of his own game. When you see guys come into the team, particularly at 19, who know how to set their own fields and know what they want to do in any given situation then you feel pretty comfortable with them."