Barring an unexpected reaction to his first serious exercise since leaving the field at Hamilton last Sunday, England were therefore choosing from a fully fit party of 16, a rare enough blessing which pointed in itself, perhaps, to a much needed change of fortune.
Cricket followers at home have so far had little solace to counteract the winter. The hope for this series is not simply that England might win their first overseas series for five years, but also that the play should be vigorous and interesting, as often in the past on the slow pitches of New Zealand it has failed to be.
That has been as much the fault of groundsmen, and the soil with which they have to work, as that of the players, but traditionally New Zealand cricket sides tended to have a bit of an inferiority complex which led to safety-first tactics.
The advent of Richard Hadlee changed that up to a point and Steve Rixon, the Australian coach hired last year, has made it his business, as he puts it, ``to make sure that hardness comes into their game''.
It is strange that such an attitude should need to be instilled into the country which year after year produces rugby teams considerably harder than the average mahogany tree, but Rixon believes it is a weak mental timbre as much as any lack of ability which has kept New Zealand in the lower reaches of international cricket since Hadlee's retirement in 1990. With a former All Black, John Graham, also attached to the side as
manager, this team are unlikely to lack either motivation or moral fibre. It remains to be seen whether or not they will have the quality of batting to get on top of England bowlers who seem to have hit some form together.
This unusual state of affairs made selection of the final team this morning all the harder. Cork's recovery appeared to have ruled out Chris Silverwood and Andrew Caddick, along with Ronnie Irani and Jack Russell, who starts another (two-day) match for his old club, Takapuna, tomorrow.
The final choice, therefore, lay between leaving out one of the spinners, Robert Croft and Phil Tufnell, or omitting Alan Mullally and entrusting the new ball to Cork and Darren Gough, with Craig White as third seamer.
The expected cloudy weather, and a pitch with residual moisture, made the former option marginally more likely. There was, after all, a risk in playing Cork as they would be reduced to just two quicker bowlers if he broke down.
On the other hand David Lloyd and Mike Atherton believe that they have a pair of quality spinners. This series must be won if England are to progress, but there also has to be some planning for Australia next summer.
Talking of planning, yesterday's practice marked the first appearance in New Zealand of the Sky TV commentators who will keep privileged insomniacs informed over the next few weeks. Among those newly arrived from a break in Australia was Ian Botham. From a position of ignorance about the form of the team in New Zealand, he will presumably not be protesting this time that he was not consulted about the selection.