Kiwis start their English summer

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London, May 8: New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori will learn this weekend whether an injured finger will prevent him playing a full role in next week's first Test against England at Lord's.

Vettori has been forced to miss the warm-up match against an England Lions side, which was due to start Thursday at Hampshire's Rose Bowl, and the spinner admits he is in uncharted territory with the relatively minor but painful injury he suffered to his bowling hand in a match against Essex at the weekend.

"I'm having the stitches taken out on Saturday or Sunday and I'll know a little bit more then," Vettori said when asked if the gash on the index finger of his left hand could keep him out of the first Test.

"I'm confident, but I've never dealt with this before and it's in the worst possible spot." With the exception of Vettori and the rested seamer Kyle Mills, New Zealand went into the match against an experienced Lions side with virtually a full-strength side, with vice-captain Brendon McCullum standing in as skipper.

Vettori is hoping the warm-up against players of the calibre of seamer Matthew Hoggard and former Test batsman Robert Key, who will skipper the Lions, will help ensure New Zealand's squad do not succumb to nerves when they appear at Lord's next week.

"The quality of the opposition is very high so it's not a case of us being able to meander through a warm-up game and expect to get a result," he said.

"We have to treat this pretty seriously. There's still a lot of competition for Test places. Even though you'd probably say the majority of the team is set in stone for the Test, I still want guys to have that hunger to perform because it's not that easy just to switch it on for a Test match."