Top order looking to make more of an impact against England

New Zealand's first four batsmen were very keen to put their hands up and take responsibility for getting a good score in the National Bank One-Day International series against England.

Chris Harris, who should play his 200th ODI in Wellington on Saturday, said today, "They are going out and trying to score most of our runs and obviously, in the ideal scenario that is what they are trying to do and hopefully they will do that in this series."

It was going to be an interesting series with England having improved and New Zealand were keen to start well.

Harris said New Zealand's failing in Australia was that the side had not scored enough runs.

"We got ourselves in situations where it looked like we were just starting to get back on top and then we lost wickets in clumps. After a big partnership it is crucial that you start another one and when we started to get back into a situation where the game was even we just started to lose two or three wickets and obviously we were in trouble again.

"Basically it is just a matter of posting better totals than we have been," he said.

Harris said he had shelved plans to try and change his bowling action that he had worked on over the last winter.

"I'm just using a little bit more variation on the crease. I did try to bowl a little quicker but it didn't really work for me and I couldn't get that extra 10 or 15 per cent that I needed and just reverted to what worked in the past," he said.

Harris said the personal pressure on him during the VB Series had been tough as he flew to and fro across the Tasman.

"It was very tough mentally and it wasn't just the travel it was the emotions of what I went through and obviously a pretty tough time losing your mother-in-law at such a young age, not just on me but the whole family.

"I did find it difficult but I did look forward to going back and trying as well as I could," he said.

Harris also confirmed that he had not given up his hopes of playing Test cricket again, although he acknowledged that under the circumstances it was unlikely, but he never gave up hoping.

Similarly, he still had aspirations of scoring more ODI centuries, although that would be dependent on the state of matches rather than an elevation up the batting order.

"I'd like to get some more [hundreds] but it is obviously a bit difficult in the situation I am now batting in. It would either take for me to be promoted up the order or for us to be four or five down for not very many and having to bat through the innings."

The side was feeling disappointed about their failure to compete in the finals of the series.

"Obviously we were delighted with the way we played against Australia but hugely disappointed with the way we finished."

He didn't think there was a psychological block against South Africa, rather New Zealand just didn't play well enough against them.

"They've got a pretty steady line-up and they are consistent performers and they are a good all-round side. On the odd occasion we've put pressure on them, we've run them close and they've won on the last ball, or we've lost on the last ball and that's when we have performed more how we have to compete against them. I don't think we've done that often enough," he said.

"We play our best form of cricket when we put on a good total and defend it, like nothing on Earth," he said.