England not underdone for test, says Finn

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STEVEN FINN: "Obviously it wasn't ideal, losing the four day game, but we took some good things from it. We'll practice hard these next two days and we'll all be ready and raring to go on Wednesday."

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The touring English cricketers are adamant there will be no hangover from their loss to the New Zealand XI.

Strike bowler Steven Finn, who was rested for the three-wicket upset in Queenstown, said his side had learnt plenty and taken away the positives.

While New Zealand cricket fans took confidence from the win ahead of the first test starting in Dunedin on Wednesday, Finn brushed away his side's loss nonchalantly.

"It's going to happen in warm-up games," he said.

"We look at the positives, we know some of our batsmen spent good time in the middle and the bowlers got good miles in their legs."

Finn brushed off talk that some of his side's best batsmen - Kevin Pietersen, Jonathan Trott especially - missed a golden opportunity to spend time in the middle in Queenstown and would be underprepared for the test.

"The way we train, everyone gets quality time in training and that will hold us in good stead when the test starts on Wednesday," he said.

"Obviously it wasn't ideal, losing the four day game, but we took some good things from it. We'll practice hard these next two days and we'll all be ready and raring to go on Wednesday."

When asked if the loss was the reminder the English needed not to take the New Zealand test side lightly, the towering quick replied instantly that his side would never be guilty of that.

"Having seen them in the one day series and the Twenty20 series, [we know] that they're capable of some exceptional cricket and they have some exceptional performers," he said.

"We never ever take anyone lightly and anyone in their own back yard is a hard team to beat.

"We're going into this three test series with a real test on our hands and we'll have to do things that we did very well in India ... we'll have to do that in this three test series."

- © Fairfax NZ News