Vincent wary of Lee and Tait

Lou Vincent, one of New Zealand's opening batsmen, feels a safety-first approach will work better than outright aggression in the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy from Friday. Australia crushed New Zealand in the Twenty20 international and Vincent was wary of the threat Brett Lee and Shaun Tait posed.

"We have to soak up the heat rather than strike out and chance our arms too much," he told stuff.co.nz. Lee removed Vincent first ball and Brendon McCullum a few overs later in Perth, while Tait got Jamie How and Ross Taylor, something he prided himself on after the match. New Zealand's batsmen struggled through a disastrous tour of South Africa, where they could not cope with the pace of Dale Steyn and the other fast bowlers.

Tait has already spoken of his aim to use the three one-dayers against New Zealand in his bid to get back into the Test frame. Having faced Tait before, Vincent was more concerned about Lee. "Tait hits the bat harder," he said, "but Lee bowls with a beautiful straight seam and swings it away."

John Bracewell, New Zealand's coach, said the batting just had to improve. "We have now seen how Australia are going to come at us and we will put in place strategies to try and counter that and take advantage of that," he said. "We've faced fast bowlers in South Africa, we are going to face them in Australia, and we are going to face them against England later in the season."