Sir Richard Hadlee turns the heat up on England

While history is against Brendon McCullum's men, New Zealand have won just eight of 99 Tests between the two teams, they will carry plenty of momentum into the opening day at Lord's this week.

New Zealand have won four of their last five Test series to move up to third in the rankings, two places above England, and they earned plenty of admirers in their run to the World Cup final on home soil.

England, meanwhile, sacked coach Peter Moores earlier this month after a poor run of results across all formats, with the drawn Test series against an under-strength West Indies side the apparent final straw.

Hadlee, who took 431 wickets in 86 Tests for his country, told the Daily Telegraph: "I think England are there for the picking.

"If we play to our potential we can win. Self-belief is important because it has been a long time since we have won in England so history shows we are up against it, but we have all bases covered."

Seamers Trent Boult and Tim Southee have played a key role in New Zealand's resurgence and Hadlee has predicted the pair will be eager to pile the pressure on England captain Alastair Cook.

The left-hander relieved some of the scrutiny on his batting in the Caribbean, scoring his first century in nearly two years, although there are still plenty of question marks over his captaincy.

"There is no question he [Cook] will be the target of Southee and Boult putting incredible pressure on him," said Hadlee.

"When you compare Cook and McCullum it is apples and pears as captains. McCullum is so attacking and proactive whereas Cook is more conservative captain.

"That is not a criticism. He is very thoughtful in the way he goes about his job as captain but clearly he is under pressure.

"If that is a chink in the England armour then New Zealand will look to exploit it."