WELLINGTON, March 12: England have axed experienced pace bowlers Steve Harmison and Matthew Hoggard in a bid to save the Test series against New Zealand after their humiliating 189-run first Test loss.

Harmison was widely expected to lose his place for the second Test starting here on Thursday but the dropping of Hoggard was more of a surprise.

James Anderson returns for his 21st Test after getting some match practice last week playing for Auckland in New Zealand’s first-class cricket.

Also back is Stuart Broad, who made his Test debut against Sri Lanka last year.

Harmison and Hoggard, with 124 Test caps between them, struggled in the first Test, taking a combined two wickets at the cost of 278 runs.

Skipper Michael Vaughan said it was a difficult decision to drop the veteran pair, both of whom have played heroic roles for England at the side of their captain in the past and have 460 Test wickets between them.

“It’s a tough call,” Vaughan admitted. “We had a gut feeling we need to make a change, the attack needed a bit of a shake-up. “At the minute they’re not bowling to the standards they set themselves.”

Anderson and Broad did not make a big impression in the one-day series won 3-1 by New Zealand but Vaughan said he was confident they would rise to the occasion in the crucial Test.“It’s a great opportunity for the young lads to stamp their authority on Test cricket,” he said.

“It’s quite an exciting time, a new attack leading into a Test match.

They’re a little bit lacking in experience but I think they’ve got enough talent to put the New Zealand batsmen under a lot of pressure.”

Ryan Sidebottom, who bowled brilliantly to take 10-139 in the first Test – including a second-innings hat-trick – will spearhead the English attack in Wellington.

New Zealand have made one change to their team, with seamer Mark Gillespie brought for his second Test ahead of spinner Jeetan Patel.

Patel worked well in tandem with skipper Daniel Vettori in a twin spin attack in Hamilton but the Wellington wicket is expected to be more seam-friendly than Hamilton.

Vettori is hoping pacemen Kyle Mills and Chris Martin can repeat their heroics from Hamilton when they spearheaded an attack which skittled England out for just 110 in the second innings.

But Vettori told reporters he was expecting England to be a tougher proposition this time around.

Vaughan is also expecting his batsmen to bat more positively this time after being criticised for their timidity in the first Test.

“It’s a difficult one because you don’t want to come out with a reckless mindset and start swinging from ball one, but you have to make sure you have intent to score and get on top of the opposition,” he said.

“A lot of our players do like to dominate and for some reason at the moment we’re not being allowed to.

If New Zealand can win the second of the three Test series, it would be only their fourth series win over England and their first against them at home since 1984.

Teams:

New Zealand: Daniel Vettori (captain), Matthew Bell, Jamie How, Stephen Fleming, Ross Taylor, Mathew Sinclair, Jacob Oram, Brendon McCullum, Kyle Mills, Mark Gillespie, Chris Martin. Jeetan Patel (12th man)

England: Michael Vaughan (captain), Alastair Cook, Andrew Strauss, Kevin Pietersen, Ian Bell, Paul Collingwood, Tim Ambrose, Stuart Broad, Ryan Sidebottom, James Anderson, Monty Panesar.—AFP