Even though it’s barely five minutes since the last Test series between these two sides, the next one gets underway on Thursday. The short interval means that the sides facing each other at Lord’s will be very familiar. The players who excelled in New Zealand, such as Ryan Sidebottom and Tim Southee, will be expected to continue in a similar vein.

There will be a few noticeable changes, though, not least the absence of Stephen Fleming. The Black Caps’ batting line-up will have to adjust for the first series since their former captain’s retirement, but good recent performances from the likes of Aaron Redmond mean that runs are still likely to be scored (although New Zealand often rival England in the art of the collapse).

Another source of runs for the Black Caps, and one of many New Zealand players who spent the short period since the last series over in India is Brendon McCullum, although he will probably need to calm things down a little to make big Test scores, after proving himself in the hurried pace of the IPL.

From England’s perspective, there are a lot of players hoping to regain form (not least the captain, who might do well to stop practising his textbook forward defensive shot and start scoring runs), or to prove something to the selectors (or to themselves). Nevertheless, home advantage makes England clear favourites.

Lakshmipathy Balaji has taken the IPL’s first hat-trick (youtube highlights here).

After a long period of dominance of the competition by the batsmen, it seems the bowlers are getting their own back.

Andrew ‘Ashes Hero Freddie’ Flintoff, who looked to be on the verge of an England recall, has been ruled out of the first two Tests against New Zealand, after picking up a side strain.

This is a shame, partly because he was bowling like a beast, and partly because it tars him once again with the ‘injury-prone’ brush, which can be as bad as the ‘bits and pieces’ brush. His batting, however, has been awful recently, so the batting order will probably not suffer much from his omission, even if Paul Collingwood doesn’t play.

Long before the advent of Twenty20, with its bowl-outs and 36-run overs, people have tried to come up with ‘interesting’ variants of cricket, and the trend shows no sign of abating.

There’s ‘Power Cricket‘, an indoor variant where hitting the roof was worth 12 runs; marginally more straightforward Indoor Cricket, complete with the Haka when New Zealand are playing; Beach Cricket, which Graham Hick is quite good at; even Cricket on Ice.

It all makes the IPL look tame by comparison

Andy Bull, writing for the Guardian, has picked up on the sterling work of David Barry (and many others) in the field of ‘cricket sabermetrics‘.

As noted by pretty much everyone who’s ever written on this subject, baseball is way ahead in terms of using stats to improve the way the game is played, and even football, normally resistant to change, has been influenced by the rise of ProZone, as well as the likes of Billy Beane. Whilst there is no shortage of cricketing statisticians, they tend not to be overly interested in influencing traditional cricketing behaviour (however irrational it may be).

Australia, as Bull and Barry both note, have used a bit of this statistical science to good effect. John Buchanan in particular is apparently a fan.

I think that there’s a lot of scope for using stats, but there’s a danger in getting carried away. Stats in general are flawed, cricket stats even more so.

Interesting stuff in the Guardian today about the possibility of Lord’s hosting neutral Test matches in future. This is one to keep an eye on, as the ECB are unlikely to be best pleased.

Rob Key, Adil Rashid (if he plays) and the rest of the England Fringe will take on New Zealand tomorrow in the tourists’ final warm-up game before the Test series gets underway.

Daneil Vettori won’t be playing as he has a cut on his finger, so Brendon McCullum will captain the Black Caps’ side. The New Zealand captain should recover from his injury in time for the first Test. I should think so too. A cut finger?

Of all the International stars in the IPL, the one who has arguably profited most (purely in terms of reputation - we all know who’s profiting the most financially) has been Shane Warne.

Warne’s team, the Rajasthan Royals, have been doing pretty well (as I knew they would, of course), and this, combined with the fact that many pundits haven’t seen much of Warne since he retired from International cricket, has led to praise aplenty.

One of the best things about the IPL so far has been the opportunity to see Warne in his element, as his obvious captaincy skills have come to the fore.

Sohail Tanvir has taken 6-14 (the best ever Twenty20 bowling figures), to propel the Rajasthan Royals (who I’m supporting) to the top of the IPL.

You can see highlights of this remarkable feat (via youtube) here.

Mark Ramprakash fans everywhere will be delighted to hear that the Strictly Come Dancing star, charity footballer and occasional run machine has now made 99 first-class centuries, with the latest coming during Surrey’s County Championship draw with Sussex.

Swoon. The century of centuries is now mere days away, in all likelihood.