England begin their summer of cricket, which includes the Ashes, with a crucial two test series against New Zealand on Thursday.
The Black Caps have gone through a resurgence of late and they will be looking to kick on from an impressive ICC Cricket World Cup, where they were beaten finalists after thrilling throughout the tournament.
On the other hand a lot is being made of England’s struggles and the series will be closely followed from around the world when it starts on at Lord’s this week.
And two Nottinghamshire icons, Stuart Broad and Sir Richard Hadlee, realise the importance of picking up a series win.
"It's vital to win this series against New Zealand. It's a good opportunity going into the first test for us to concentrate on the actual cricket, how we are going to up our game, get results and how we are going to up our love for cricket as a country," the 28-year-old Broad said.
"I feel like now is the time as a team that we need to go 'cricket, cricket, cricket' because when we do that, that is generally when we get some good results.
"We've got to win games. Sport is that sort of world. If you're losing you deserve to get that sort of crap. If you're winning you generally get less crap and people enjoy watching you more.
"As players all we can do is take our catches, take our wickets and score runs. And if we win games, people will want to watch us."
However, Hadlee has backed the visitors to beat what he describes as a ‘vulnerable’ England side.
“I think England are there for the picking. If we play to our potential we can win. Self-belief is important because it has been a long time since we have won in England so history shows we are up against it,” Hadlee said.
“But we have all bases covered from our two strike bowlers, back up bowlers, and Kane Williamson is going to be our best ever batsman in our history. He is hungry for runs and adapted to all forms of the game.
“England are vulnerable at the moment and they have got to attack them. They [Southee and Boult] are getting better and better and as a combination, in my view they will be our finest ever and most successful bowling combination in our history.
“The fact they working together and getting wickets together is because they complement each other by being so different.
“There is no question he [Cook] will be the target of Southee and Boult putting incredible pressure on him.
“When you compare Cook and McCullum it is apples and pears as captains. McCullum is so attacking and proactive whereas Cook is more conservative captain.
"That is not a criticism. He is very thoughtful in way he goes about his job as captain but clearly he is under pressure. If that is a chink in the England armour then New Zealand will look to exploit it.
“New Zealand have been very good on and off the field over the last two years. We have gone up in rankings in all forms of the game and what has been exciting to me as a traditionalist is that we have been winning test series.
“We have played six test series winning four of them and not losing any and those sort of things are quite significant and the team will go into the series with a lot of confidence.”
Trent Bridge hosts the fourth Royal London One-Day International between England and New Zealand on Wednesday 17 June. Don't miss the chance to watch England seek redemption against the Kiwis and secure your seat now.