All the talk about desire, attitude and commitment goes on the line for New Zealand at Eden Park tomorrow when they try to regain their winning form.

While the weather may have the final say, the forecast is poor, it is the New Zealand top order that will be under greatest scrutiny, and pressure, as the Sri Lankans, playing with confidence and panache look to tie up the five-match National Bank series after only three games.

Nathan Astle, Mathew Sinclair and Stephen Fleming have failed to give the side the starts required, and only achieved it once during the three-match Zimbabwe series which preceded the Sri Lankan tour.

It has become fashionable to place all the emphasis on New Zealand's young crop of bowlers not being able to perform well enough at the death, and they haven't.

But they have the pressure of learning in a tough school and have not had the amount of time in their roles, that the senior batsmen have enjoyed.

Those batsmen are the ones who must perform tomorrow.

Their task is all the more important in the absence of world-ranked middle-order batsman Roger Twose, who is out of consideration for this game following the spraining of his thumb in a mid-pitch collision in Saturday night's loss in Wellington.

Auckland batsman Lou Vincent comes into the team in Twose's place. It is a tough call on him when he might have expected a more orderly call up.

He should have had the benefit of a comfortable introduction to the international game and not one based on attempting to shore up the innings after the top order has failed again. But times are tough.

Captain Fleming has his own pressure to overcome. He's faced only five balls in the series so far and is still to score a run. He not only has to find better batting form, he has to wind up his team to improve even more than it did on its first game, when just beaten in Wellington.

New Zealand is well capable of turning the situation around. Adversity has often brought out the best in many Kiwi sportsmen. For the cricketers the time could not be more appropriate on the country's national holiday.

The placement of Darryl Tuffey in the bowling attack will be a new face for the Sri Lankans. But such is there ability with the bat that he will need to be right on his best performance to avoid being hit around.

And it has been hit home to the New Zealanders that there is great depth in the batting line-up and it is a compliment to him that middle-order rescue merchant Russel Arnold has emerged as the most successful batsman in the side so far.

His is the key wicket now for New Zealanders, although the thought that Sanath Jayasuriya or Aravinda de Silva could cut loose any time is always there.

But New Zealand can also apply pressure through the fielding, as it so nearly did on Saturday. A repetition of that effort could be the forerunner to an overdue victory against opposition that can never be under-estimated.

The signs are there for a classic match, and if the pitch is anything like that for the thrilling Zimbabwe match, which saw Zimbabwe get up and win, it will be superb.

As well as runs from the top order, a score in excess of 250 would be most welcome.

And for that to happen the top order must fire.

Play starts at 10.30am.

© CricInfo