England's pre-Test three-day match tomorrow with Otago starting in Queenstown, New Zealand's major tourist resort, is in celebration of 125 years of cricket for the Otago Cricket Association - the southernmost first-class association in the world.

Otago's first international opponents were the England touring side of 1863/64 which popped over in the middle of a tour of a Australia to play matches against Otago and Canterbury, a visit to the latter association being celebrated also in England's next pre-Test game.

But Marcus Trescothick's men may be following in the footsteps of their illustrious forebears by creating a precedent fit to stand for the next 125 years.

Queenstown, the same region which was home to a cousin of the immortal Grace family of Gloucestershire, W G Rees, who played in that Otago side which met the 1863/64 English team and caught out his cousin E M Grace, is hosting its maiden first-class game at its stunning new Events Centre, nestled in the lea of the Remarkables mountain range.

It is doubtful that there is a more picturesque ground in the world, although that will always be a matter for individual taste.

However, Queenstown's popularity as a tourist resort, makes it an ideal venue to be developed with cricket in mind, and given that the game is only taking place here due to the mean spiritedness of New Zealand rugby officials who refused to move a Super 12 game from Carisbrook to allow the match to be played in Dunedin, it may be that Queenstown becomes a favoured venue for international matches hosted by Otago.

Returning to W G Rees, he was one of the first European settlers in the Queenstown district and his name is remembered through the naming of one of the rivers in Lake Wakatipu's headwaters, the Rees river.

He also acquired some of the Grace skill in disputing his dismissal. Local legend has it that while playing a game in the region he was clean bowled but contested his dismissal saying that his attention had been distracted by some distant sheep.

His biographer commented: "Rees was not the kind of man who was very often laughed at to his face, but 'Got a sheep in my eye' became a legendary saying in the district."

Despite their best intentions, the men of Otago, 22 of them, were no match for England in 1863/64, and there is little chance they will be severely tested by the men of 2001/02.

Otago has gone through a miserable trot and have lost seven games in a row. They have lost international players, Matt Horne and Mark Richardson, who have returned to their home base of Auckland, they lost international off-spinner Paul Wiseman to Canterbury and they are without international left-arm bowler Shayne O'Connor who has damaged his knee again, during the recent tour of Australia. To compound matters, wicket-keeper Martyn Croy, who was originally named in the side, has withdrawn as a precautionary matter, one game after taking seven dismissals in an innings.

But with all the subterfuge surrounding the incumbent Test wicket-keeper Adam Parore the cynics might wonder if Croy is being considered as a possible Test player should Parore not be selected.

However, there are still players of talent in the Otago unit, Brendon McCullum, a member of the CLEAR Black Caps side in the recent one-day series will be keen to have a good long innings unfettered by run rates and fielding restrictions. Fast bowler Kerry Walmsley, who as recently as last summer during New Zealand's injury hiatus was called up to South Africa, will be looking to show his wares against quality opposition.

In reality, however, this game is all about the English getting their longer version of the game together.

And that most affects the players not wanted for the one-day squad and who have tried to use a few days in Dunedin and, now, in Queenstown to shake off the winter blues to be ready for the next month.

Mark Butcher, Mark Ramprakash and Usman Afzaal especially will be seeking time in the middle to press their claims for Test inclusion with their batting.

While Andy Caddick showed when being hammered all around Jade Stadium in the first One-Day International that he was in need of plenty of bowling. In that regard he will have to take his place with Richard Dawson, Andrew Flintoff, James Ormond.

The other concern facing England is the local weather. Queenstown has not been immune to the miserable summer New Zealand has suffered and the forecast is for rain on the first day.

The teams for the game are:

England: Marcus Trescothick (captain), Mark Butcher, Mark Ramprakash, Graham Thorpe, Usman Afzaal, Andrew Flintoff, Craig White, Warren Hegg, James Ormond, Andy Caddick, Richard Dawson.

Otago: Craig Cumming (captain), Simon Beare, Duncan Drew, Chris Gaffaney, Robbie Lawson, Brendon McCullum, James McMillan, Nathan Morland, Craig Pryor, David Sewell, Rob Smith, Kerry Walmsley.

© CricInfo