Taylor wants to set example with the bat

Ross Taylor has said that performing with the bat will help him set an example as he leads his side to Zimbabwe in his first assignment since taking over as New Zealand captain from Daniel Vettori. "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 told the New Zealand Herald. "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."

New Zealand have had a long break from international cricket, having not played since their semi-final exit in the World Cup in March earlier this year. They have had to do with just a preparatory camp at home ahead of the Zimbabwe tour and Taylor admitted that some more match practice would have helped. "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."

There are four uncapped players in the New Zealand limited-overs and Test squads for the Zimbabwe tour but Taylor cautioned against having premature expectations from the untested faces. "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."

Zimbabwe have been competitive in their home season so far, beating Bangladesh in the ODI series and in the one-off Test before losing across all three formats to Pakistan. Taylor felt that the tour was not going to be a cakewalk for his side. "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."

New Zealand begin their tour with a Twenty20 international in Harare on October 15 followed by another T20I, three ODIs and a one-off Test.