New Zealand's batsmen will have to find a way of countering Ryan Sidebottom if they are not to be trounced this summer, the touring team's greatest player has said. Sir Richard Hadlee believes that England are “out-and-out favourites” for the npower Test series, which starts on May 15, and says that the New Zealand batsmen must learn to occupy the crease to give their bowlers a rest.

“One of the problems we've had is that we've invariably bowled well in the first innings, but when we've batted we've been knocked over in 50 or 60 overs and the bowlers are bowling twice in a day,” Hadlee said. “They haven't had the recovery time to put in another big performance.”

He added that too often the lower middle order and tailend batsmen have had to make runs to ensure that New Zealand stayed competitive and that, while it was good to have decent batsmen such as Jacob Oram, Daniel Vettori and Kyle Mills down the order, “it is only a strength if the top order do their job”. “The problem we have is scoring enough runs in a game,” he added. “Normally we have a hiccup in one innings. That is a reflection that we are not used to batting time. We don't play anywhere near as many Tests as most nations.”

New Zealand's likely top six for the first Test at Lord's have 52 Test caps between them, 32 of them for Brendon McCullum. However, Hadlee, who has been chairman of selectors for the past eight years, said that Vettori's young team have potential. “The players really enjoy playing under Vettori,” he said. “The fact he is a different bloke [from Stephen Fleming, the previous captain] is refreshing. This is a new era and we'll have some misses over the next few years, but hopefully these new players can be the superstars of the future.”

Aaron Redmond is set to make his debut at Lord's and Hadlee said that he had been rewarded for his domestic form with Otago. “He is lovely to watch if he can get going,” Hadlee said of the batsman. Redmond's father, Rodney, played one Test match, against Pakistan in 1973, when Hadlee was twelfth man, and, despite scoring 107 and 56, was not picked again.

Hadlee believes that Sidebottom, who took 24 wickets in three Tests against New Zealand in the winter, is England's most potent weapon. “In 2004 we arrived in England with a very strong batting line-up and yet we were well beaten,” he said. “The difference between the two sides then was Stephen Harmison, who got wickets at crucial times, and the difference this winter was Sidebottom. It's important that we combat him. He has nagging accuracy, can bowl left-arm round the wicket, which is rare, and bowls a heavy ball that's always there or thereabouts. I admire what he did in New Zealand.”

Hadlee played for Nottinghamshire, Sidebottom's county, for ten seasons and said that the players should enjoy the experience of playing here. “England is the tour of tours,” he said. “This is the best place to learn and play your game. You've got the history, playing against reasonable county sides, good conditions and facilities and the chance to play at Lord's. It can be a dream. These guys will get home and say this was a wonderful tour and hopefully they'll take enough out of it to allow their game to grow.”

- The Test series will be broadcast live and in high definition on Sky Sports.

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