Martin fires warning at England

	Chris Martin: 'If we hunt as a pack and hit them hard early, I think we've got the attack to take their wickets' © Getty Images

Chris Martin has hit back at suggestions by Andrew Strauss that the New Zealand attack should pose few problems for England in the upcoming Test series.

England play three Tests in March following a month of one-day action that includes two Twenty20 internationals and five ODIs. Shane Bond is unlikely to play for New Zealand after signing up for the Indian Cricket League, leaving the home side without their main strike bowler.

Strauss, currently playing for Northern Districts, suggested at the weekend that England's batsmen would not be too troubled by an attack missing Bond. "We'll rest a bit easier at night if he's not playing," he said. "You pretty much know what you're going to get [with the other bowlers] - we know what they're capable of."

However, Martin said England were yet to see the best of New Zealand's bowlers, admitting the attack failed to fire on its tour to England in 2004, when the tourists lost the Test series 3-0.

"He's said a lot of things in the media over the years that can come across as a little bit arrogant and a little bit cocky," Martin said after being named Man of the Match in the second Test against Bangladesh. "You just take that sort of stuff with a grain of salt. If we hunt as a pack and hit them hard early, I think we've got the attack to take their wickets."

Without Bond, the role of spearhead now belongs to Martin and he says it is something he is still getting used to. "It hasn't quite settled on my shoulders yet. But as we go through and as the amount of tests for me go up, I think I'm starting to feel more comfortable, and it's a role that I'm starting to enjoy."