Ross Taylor. File photo / Christine Cornege
New captain Ross Taylor appreciates the importance of finding top form with the bat early in this month's tour of Zimbabwe.
Taylor, who replaced Dan Vettori as New Zealand captain, is on his first assignment as permanent leader and he's determined to lead by more than just being the first bloke out on to the field each day.
"There's always going to be nerves when you take over as captain for the first time, but the biggest thing for me is scoring runs, leading from the front,"' Taylor said.
"If you're scoring runs the team is going to follow and your speeches become easier. There's no use preaching to the team if you're not scoring runs."
Taylor, 27, ended last season in strong ODI form, hitting 317 runs at 79 during the World Cup on the subcontinent in March.
He's happy with his ability on the tactical side of the game and looking forward to growing into the job at a time when new faces are appearing in New Zealand colours.
The most notable of those this time is young Central Districts allrounder Doug Bracewell, while players such as Rob Nicol, BJ Watling and Dean Brownlie have had a taste of the international game and have been recalled.
Taylor cautioned against throwing too much expectation on the fresher faces too soon.
"Good youngsters coming through is the key going forward.
"It's how we monitor these players and not get carried away with their potential.
"There's no point sticking three new people in and making them learn for themselves," he said.
It has been six months since New Zealand's last international action, although players have been occupying themselves around the globe, some with stints in county cricket, others on the Emerging Players tour of Australia, a couple in the Champions League, which reaches its conclusion on Sunday.
Taylor admitted the long break might not be ideal in terms of hitting the Zimbabwean turf running, but is sure there will be benefits. Having a week there to acclimatise will help, while the week-long camp at Lincoln, which included five games among the large group of elite players, won't hurt either.
"In an ideal world it would be good to have a few more games, but in the long run having this break will benefit the players. It's going to be a busy two years ahead," Taylor said.
Zimbabwe have hosted Bangladesh and Pakistan recently, and with mixed results.
Against Pakistan, they lost the ODI series 3-0, lost the one-off test and were beaten in both T20s.
However Bangladesh were defeated 3-2 in the ODIs and Zimbabwe won the only test by a convincing margin, buoyed by a century in each innings by Hamilton Mazakadza and Brendon Taylor.
Taylor reckons he's never studied cricinfo.com so assiduously as he has during this extended break.
"It's nice to see they're going to be very competitive on their home turf.
"Any players under the illusion that it's going to be an easy tour, well hopefully they've looked at the stats. It's certainly not going to be a walk."
ZIMBABWE TOUR
New Zealand ODI and T20 squad:
Ross Taylor (c), Brendon McCullum, Martin Guptill, Jesse Ryder, Kane Williamson, James Franklin, BJ Watling, Rob Nicol, Luke Woodcock, Doug Bracewell, Jacob Oram, Nathan McCullum, Kyle Mills, Graeme Aldridge, Andy McKay. Chris Martin, Tim Southee, Dan Vettori, Jeetan Patel, Reece Young and Dean Brownlie join the tour for the test leg.
New Zealand schedule in Zimbabwe:
* Oct 15: First T20, Harare
* Oct 17: Second T20, Harare
* Oct 20: First ODI, Harare
* Oct 22: Second ODI, Harare
* Oct 25: Third ODI, Bulawayo
* Oct 28-29: Warmup game v Zimbabwe selection, Bulawayo
* Nov 1-5: Only test, Bulawayo