Hamish Marshall

Hamish Marshall

Warren Lees is leading the call for change in the New Zealand one-day team, saying fresh ideas are desperately needed if the World Cup dream is to prosper.

The coaching brains behind New Zealand's strong 1992 campaign, Lees wants batsman Ross Taylor brought back to the team.

He suggests lesser, back-up roles for Hamish Marshall, Lou Vincent and Peter Fulton.

The former test wicket-keeper and coach also advocates shifting veteran batsman Nathan Astle's place in the order - although not necessarily to the opening position, where he has scored 6047 of his 6961 runs and 16 of his 18 ODI centuries.

Instead, Lees believes the time is right for Astle to drop further down the order - ideally to No 5 - to best harness his experience and give him a better chance against the older ball.

His comments came days after New Zealand's top order capitulated against Australia in the Champions Trophy semifinal at Mohali.

The top six batsmen fell inside the first 15 overs.

Lees said Marshall looked unnerved by his run drought, Vincent batted as if he were in two, possibly three, minds and Fulton was not ready for one-day international cricket.

Of the three, Marshall had to be the first to go.

"I look at his eyes, at his body language, and I think he almost wants to go too," Lees said yesterday.

"It's as if he's telling the bowler, 'for God's sake, do it quickly, don't let it be drawn out'.

"I know he scored a lot of runs in England, but all that confirms to me is that English county cricket is crap. Most of our players could go to England and do well on the county circuit, as Craig Spearman has already shown.

"But there's an enormous gap between that and international level."

Lees said Vincent and Fulton appeared to be struggling on a technical and mental level, especially when facing top-class attacks.

He believed a New Zealand top-order that included Marshall, Fulton and Vincent - as it did in this week's semifinal - had almost no chance of succeeding against quality bowlers.

"They've got about 20 games before the World Cup, and sorting out the top-order batting has to be the priority."