Broad ready for giant Lord's battle

Lord's is set to witness its very own battle of the giants, when Stuart Broad and Steven Finn take on New Zealand opener Peter Fulton in the first Investec Test.

'Two-metre Peter' himself is in town, and may be pitted against England's two beanpole seamers on Thursday, if the tourists end up batting first on day one of the two-match series. Broad has Fulton, and a few others, in his sights - and will be mindful of the dangers of adapting his line of attack too much from the tried-and-tested methods which work most often, whoever the batsman.

"The only different thing with 'two-metre Peter' is if you go near the stumps, especially on those New Zealand wickets, he'd seem to hit it for four through the leg-side," he said.

"His stats were quite high on leg-side scoring. So you do have to bowl a little bit different. But I think at the start of this series we'll be looking to bowl disciplined, old school, top-of-off areas, not get too funky - and see where we go from there.

"I think from a bowling point of view, the first Test of the summer, English conditions, whoever you're bowling at you want to just be testing their defence."

Fulton made hundreds in each innings - the first of the 34-year-old's stop-start Test career - when these teams last met in Auckland, and England clung on for a 0-0 stalemate at the end of March.

Finn eventually got his man each time, but Broad is naturally hoping it takes nowhere near as long this time. Broad knows from his own experience, having started out as a schoolboy batsman before a growth spurt carried him up towards his adult 6ft 7in, that height can be a mixed blessing.

"I find as a taller batsman, punching off the back foot and scoring off balls shorter batsmen can't score off is a lot easier," he said.

"But the fuller, straighter deliveries are obviously a lot further from your eyes - so they're harder to deal with.

"There's pros and cons ... but you do bring up more scoring areas with longer levers, I think."