England have five key players performing at somewhere near their best as they prepare for the Dunedin decider: Nick Knight, Graham Thorpe, Andrew Flintoff, Darren Gough and Matthew Hoggard. New Zealand, by contrast, only have two players – Stephen Fleming and Chris Cairns – who are in anything approaching decent nick. Undermined by England's pace trio, New Zealand's top order have flopped in three of the four matches in this series, and only Fleming and Cairns have passed 30 in the last two games. We take a look who's on song and who's off-colour going into Tuesday's match. (Form based on all matches in 2002, from start of VB Series and including England's matches in India)

England batsmen in form
Nick Knight 403 runs at 40.30
Knight has reaffirmed his position as one of the best one-day openers in the world. After a dodgy start to the Indian series, his scores since the third match at Calcutta are: 74, 105, 0, 73, 9, 80, 38 – 379 runs at 54.14 in total. Knight's career average of 42.52 is the best for any Englishman with over 2000 ODI runs and more than 50 appearances. His average is also a mere 1.40 runs behind Sachin Tendulkar's, ultimate proof that he is right up there with the big boys.

Graham Thorpe 301 runs at 33.44
It is no coincidence that England's renaissance at Napier and Auckland coincided with Graham Thorpe's own resurgence. His 52 and 59* were classic Thorpe innings, crammed with scuttled singles and lightly seasoned with the occasional boundary. He remains a key figure in both the deciding match and next year's World Cup.

Batsman out of form
Nasser Hussain 256 runs at 25.60
Hussain's batting form continues to wane. He has traded swift cameos for stodgy ones and his continued presence at No.3 is threatening to stagnate England's progress: his knocks of 24 a Napier and 17 at Auckland were scrounged from 48 and 34 balls respectively.

Allrounder in form
Andrew Flintoff 206 at 20.60 and 13 wickets at 26.46
Flintoff's bowling has been one of the highlights of England's winter. But before Napier, the figures (nine wickets at 36.33) didn't back him up. But his career-best 4 for 17 was richly deserved, and diverted Flintoff's attention away from his batting (59 runs from his last four innings), which has gone off the boil again slightly.

Anonymous allrounder
Craig White 14 runs at 7.00, 4 wickets at 37.00
Craig White's return to the England's one-day side has been spectacularly low-key. His batting form is embarrassing (he averages 2.57 from last 10 matches) and he has conceded runs at 5.69 runs an over since returning.

Bowlers in form
Darren Gough 19 wickets at 23.52
Matthew Hoggard 11 wickets at 27.09
England's self-proclaimed Rhino has so far trampled cheerily over New Zealand's batsmen. His 11 wickets in the series have cost only 13.18 runs each and have given England good reason to question their principles ahead of the Test series. Hoggard now looks in pole position to take the new-ball with Gough in the World Cup. If only he could bat ...

New Zealand batsman in form
Stephen Fleming 443 runs at 36.91
Despite a failure at Auckland, Fleming remains his side's only specialist batsman in form. His 76* at Napier is more than twice anything his colleagues in the top-six have managed in the last two matches. Fleming may well need to reprise his role of elegant anchorman at Dunedin if New Zealand are to win the series.

New Zealand batsmen out of form
Nathan Astle 221 runs at 24.55
Craig McMillan 383 at 27.35
Astle and McMillan - with over 250 appearances between them - are integral to New Zealand's one-day success, and their variable current form is a major reason behind New Zealand having lost seven of their last nine one-dayers. Significantly, New Zealand's two wins in the series were founded upon innings of 67* by Astle at Christchurch and 69 by McMillan at Wellington.

Allrounder in form
Chris Cairns 398 runs at 36.18, 20 wickets at 23.15
Chris Cairns was New Zealand's best batsman and bowler at Auckland - indeed he was virtually playing England on his own. He caused more trouble than most with his seamers and then gave England an unpleasant few minutes as he smote 58 from 56 balls. Cairns is the only player from either side who would currently be a certainty for a world one-day XI. Bowler out of form
Daniel Vettori 10 wickets at 48.30
Vettori's wicket drought now stretches to three matches, and although he has bowled fairly tightly during that time, New Zealand require him to perform more than a mere containing role. Vettori's class isn't in doubt, but England's batsmen are currently scoring useful psychological points against him before next-month's Test matches.

Tom Bowtell is a freelance journalist.

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