Ryan Sidebottom will be given a Friday fitness test on his injured back ahead of the third one-day international against New Zealand at Bristol on Saturday.

The England paceman missed the second match in the series after suffering from stiffness but, after receiving an anti-inflammatory injection, hopes are high that he will return to the line-up.

"It is related to the spasm he had at Old Trafford, that settled down to a degree but left some inflammation that we want to get rid off, we don't want it rumbling on," explained coach Peter Moores.

"He's done a lot of work in the last 12 months and takes a lot of credit for the work he has done on his fitness, he has had a big workload and done a really good job but as always you have to be aware with bowlers."

The left-armer will be assessed in the morning while batsman Alastair Cook will also be tested after having an injection in his shoulder.

Cook has played no part so far in the one-day series because of the problem and could be replaced by Andrew Strauss once again if he has not made a sufficient recovery.

Moores has also defended his side in the wake of the second one-day international, which came to a premature and controversial end on Wednesday.

"We were bowling within the time frame required and that is quite hard in one day cricket," he added. "For me we did it right, unfortunately we can't control the fact that we came off for rain.

"There's an assumption here that New Zealand were definitely going to get those runs and not lose another wicket.

"I think they were just on top but we were still very much in the game and if we had got another wicket it would have been difficult for them to win.

"It wasn't easy for anyone out there but everyone wanted to play the game."