ANDY FLOWER rejects the suggestion that England paid for complacency in their drawn Test series against New Zealand.

Alastair Cook’s team had to fight to the very last ball, with nine wickets down, to secure even the solace of a 0-0 stalemate at Eden Park.

It was an uplifting finale for England, and deflation for their hosts, but will not erase memories of a largely offcolour performance from the tourists over three Tests.

Faulty first-innings batting, in Dunedin and then Auckland, cost England in the first and final match.

Rain intervened to prevent a result in the first two Tests, but only England’s redoubtable determination – Matt Prior in particular with an unbeaten second-innings 110, 183 runs in the match altogether and five catches behind the wicket – kept the series level.

Mutterings of complacency have been aired by observers almost since before the first ball was bowled against hosts ranked six places below England in the International Cricket Council Test table.

The grumbles gathered volume after a sticky start in Dunedin and were at their loudest perhaps by the time England began the final day of the final Test needing to eke out six wickets to prevent a first defeat in New Zealand since 1983-84.

Flower, however, is a renowned hard task-master – and is having none of that theory.

‘‘There was no complacency in our camp at all ... none whatsoever,’’ he said.

‘‘Your reference to the media talking about the fact we should win easily, or comfortably, is probably where you draw that information from.

‘‘It’s certainly not within our dressing room. We knew when we came here we had a real fight on our hands, and we prepared for that.

‘‘We respect the New Zealand cricket team.’’ Flower does not deny England fell short over the past month of the standards they set, for example, in their historic series victory in India before Christmas.

He is looking forward already, though, to setting the record straight in two home Tests against the Kiwis at Lord’s and Headingley in May.

‘‘We have not played great cricket out here.

‘‘But I would say New Zealand have played well.

Their bowlers swung the ball continually, and it should make for an interesting series at the start of the summer.’’ England’s durability to salvage a draw with nine wickets down is no rarity in Flower’s reign, after three similar great escapes in 2009 – against Australia and South Africa.

‘‘It’s great to have close games,’’ he said. ‘‘It’s really good for the public; it’s really exciting for us.

‘‘You can’t dominate all the time, and I was very proud of the way our guys fought.

‘‘What I would like to see is the same sort of determination, same sort of skill, shown at the start of games – then we can get into winning positions more often.’’ He acknowledges England have made some of their own trouble in New Zealand, but puts their fallibility here into fair context over the winter campaign.

‘‘In the second Test, we did get 400 in the first innings, and in India – after the first-innings display, when I think we were bowled out for about 200 on a reasonable deck – we got big first-innings scores.

‘‘So we can’t lump the whole winter in and say we continually under-performed with the bat at all.

‘‘We had some magnificent performances in India, and that was a great achievement earlier in the winter.’’ As for the summer to come, starting with New Zealand and then the first of two backto- back Ashes series, Flower will soon be planning ahead again.

He said: ‘‘That’s exactly what we want, to be put in pressure situations, to be tested.

‘‘That’s why we play the game, to see how good we can be.

‘‘The Ashes has a wonderful history, and everyone will be looking forward to it.

‘‘But the New Zealand series will be important, at two grounds where – possibly at the start of the summer – the ball swings.’’

  • Kevin Pietersen will spend the next two weeks wearing a knee brace, after the latest scans on his knee injury, but England still hope to have him fit in time to face New Zealand in May.