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England must finish job in New Zealand - Nasser Hussain

This series will have done England plenty of good. It is far better for them to have to work hard for any success they achieve over three Tests rather than just blowing New Zealand away. They have had to get into tough Test match mode and that will stand them in good stead this summer.

I never agreed with those who said England would defeat New Zealand 3-0. That was always likely to prove rubbish.

It just doesn’t work out that way over there, as I discovered on my two tours of the country.

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Finish the job: England have improved as the series has progressed - but need to win in Auckland

OK, this is far from a vintage New Zealand side but they have always been difficult to defeat at home and what they have done is manage to stay in the series, a bit like my England side used to try to do against superior opposition, in the hope of nicking it at the end.

What England need to do now is avoid New Zealand doing what we did when we toured Pakistan by winning the series at the very last.

A home victory could happen in Auckland but I still fancy England to win if we get five clear days for this final Test. They should have too much firepower for Brendon McCullum’s team.

My memories of Eden Park are not the greatest. In 1997 our coach, a certain David Lloyd, threw a wobbly at the start of the Test when our bowlers couldn’t seem to work out which way they were bowling on the unusual shape of what is essentially a rugby stadium.

And Bumble had another wobbly at the end of the match (as we all did, to be fair) when Mr Duck himself, Danny Morrison, hung on at the end for what seemed like 24 hours to earn New Zealand the most unlikely of draws.

Add the fact that we lost in Auckland under my captaincy in 2002 and you can see why this is not exactly my favourite venue.

Stake your claim: Compton has the chance to make it a hat-trick of centuries in New Zealand

But England could easily finish on a high note there. Stuart Broad was back to his hostile best in Wellington, which is a real plus for the side, and Nick Compton has established himself with those two centuries.

What Compton must do now is basically start from scratch and try to make it three in a row. He mustn’t be satisfied with what he’s done. And he should remember the example of Ravi Bopara as a warning of how quickly things can change — even after you have scored Test centuries for England. Where is Ravi now?

Compton must aim to stick around for a long time to come. The key batsman in this Test would have been Kevin Pietersen because of his positivity.

New Zealand will want another slow, low pitch in a bid to blunt England so the need for quick runs to try to give the bowlers enough time to bowl New Zealand out twice will be paramount.

In the absence of Pietersen, the responsibility will fall on Jonny Bairstow to force the pace in a way the majority of the England top six maybe cannot.

It will be considered a failure if England do not win this Test and they will be under a bit of pressure, which again should do them good. Nobody expected them to win in India but they relished being underdogs and now they have to win when everyone expects them to. If the sun shines they should be able to do it.

Home rule: New Zealand stars Tim Southee (left) and Ross Taylor can help the Black Caps snatch the series

VIDEO: Pietersen injury a blow for Cook

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