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New Zealand cricket coach John Bracewell says batting careers will have to be made on the tour of England and Scotland for his team to prosper.
"We've got to work above the line, and the line to be successful as an international batsman is 40-plus," Bracewell said at a media briefing at Christchurch Airport last night before his team departed for London from Auckland.
"We've got to start moving in that direction. We've got to start living above the line."
Bracewell, who is taking a young squad to Britain, said uncapped batsmen such as Otago opener Aaron Redmond and Northern Districts player Daniel Flynn should rise to the challenge and treat the tour as an adventure.
"It's one of the great cricket adventures to go to England and play at Lord's and The Oval and go around in a coach, rather than being flown everywhere," Bracewell said.
"Everywhere we go now there are honours boards with the names of New Zealanders who have scored hundreds on these hallowed grounds.
"It's steeped in history and steeped in excitement and, like I say it's the last cricket adventure."
Having toured England "three or four times" as a player, Bracewell said he "absolutely loved" the atmosphere.
"I loved that bonding culture that you get out of busing around the place ... those sorts of grounds, so steeped in history," he said.
"It's something that scratches my itch and I hope that it scratches the itch of some of our young players."
The tour party are minus five players - captain Daniel Vettori, Brendon McCullum, Ross Taylor, Jacob Oram and Kyle Mills - who have been granted permission to join the team late as they compete in the Indian Premier League (IPL) Twenty20 competition.
They will arrive in England on May 1 and be available for first-class matches against Essex and England A ahead of the first test at Lord's starting on May 15.
Bracewell shrugged off suggestions that the crash and bash of the IPL League was not ideal preparation for a tour of England.
"It's a landscape we're reasonably used to, but not necessarily at this hype," he said.
"But we go from Twenty20 stuff to one-dayers to test matches at the drop of a hat on a travel-to-play basis now and these guys are our most experienced players.
"They'll be comfortable with their return to the team and what they've gained from that."
Bracewell said it "warmed the cockles of your heart" to see players of the calibre of Australian captain Ricky Ponting playing alongside the likes of McCullum in India.
"It's going to be great for us."
New Zealand play three tests against England before a Twenty20 match and a five-match one-day series.
They then travel to Scotland for a tri-series against the hosts and Ireland in Aberdeen.
The first tour match is a warmup against MCC at Arundel on Sunday.
- NZPA
