Intro:

New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum previews the first Test against England at Lord's, which begins on Thursday.

Script:

SOUNDBITE (English) Brendon McCullum, New Zealand captain:

(asked how New Zealand's IPL (Indian Premier League) players feel)

"Cold. 45 degrees in Chennai to 10 degrees outside? But no, it's good, we're excited. A Test match at Lord's is something that very few people get the opportunity to play in. It's such an amazing ground with such tremendous character and tradition and the guys are super-excited about the opportunity that we've got to go out and play in this Test match. It has its challenges - obviously coming from the IPL. I guess last year we straight from the IPL to our first Test innings against the West Indies and we got 500, so it can actually work as a positive as well. We'll wait and see how it unfolds tomorrow but it's certainly not an excuse from our point of view."

SOUNDBITE (English) Brendon McCullum, New Zealand captain:

(asked if this is New Zealand's best ever Test team)

"It's a tough question because you don't want to be disrespectful to anyone that's gone before you. I can only talk for the time that I've been involved with the New Zealand set-up - this is best team that I've been a part of. We're not the finished product yet though, and I stress that. We've made some significant changes and we're starting to play some really good cricket, but we're only number three in the world. We started down the order but we've got some improvements to make. We have to keep going round the world, playing our cricket and getting the results we're getting."