England's bowling coach believes the New Zealanders and Doull himself could have benefited had the pace man played for his province, Northern Districts, against England in Hamilton.

``The pitch was made for seamers and I'm sure he would have taken a few wickets on it and, psychologically, that would have been a good move going into the Test,'' said Emburey.

Doull, who went home injured from New Zealand's 1994 tour of England, has had some success recently at Test level. In particular, he took 10 wickets in the drawn two-Test series in Pakistan at the end of last year.

The New Zealand management, however, preferred to keep him away from the England tourists, who beat Northern Districts with more than a day to spare, and instead played him in a practice match between the national side and Auckland.

In the event, Doull did not have much bowling to do as New Zealand batted twice in the two-day practice match at Eden Park in an effort to help several of their players rediscover form. Doull took two for 27 in Auckland's only innings.

A number of England players went to Eden Park shortly after arriving in Auckland to watch the New Zealand attack, and Doull specifically. ``We don't know too much about Doull,'' said Emburey. ``He's a similar pace to [Dominic] Cork, but seams rather than swings it. There's no doubt he has got ability.''

As for Cork, England were having to wait until a practice session this morning to see how his back injury was progressing. Wayne Morton, the England physiotherapist, said Cork was feeling more comfortable yesterday, and that he was continuing to have treatment on what is feared to be torn tissue.