Black Caps opener Martin Guptill says they don't intend on taking a more cautious approach at the top of the order in the one-day series against Bangladesh.
Black Caps batsmen Martin Guptill, right, and Henry Nicholls. Photo: Photosport
The three match series begins in Napier today, with Guptill back in the New Zealand side after missing the T20 series against India due to a back injury.
In the eight ODI's the Black Caps have played this year, three against Sri Lanka and five against India, the highest opening stand has been just 34.
Guptill scored a century in the first match of the series against Sri Lanka, blasting 138 off 139 balls in Mt Maunganui to post his 14th ODI century.
However, he has a highest score of just 15 in the six ODIs he has played since, which included New Zealand's 4-1 series loss to India.
That has prompted concern ahead of the World Cup in England, which starts in May, but Guptill said they won't throw the baby out with the bathwater.
"We want to go out and play our natural game.
"It is a tough one. We had some interesting surfaces to go out and bat on first up [against India] and the one here [in Napier] wasn't as hard and fast as we thought it was going to be. We didn't adapt well enough at the [top].
"It's about going out and adapting as quick as possible and assessing conditions and getting as much communication back to the dressing room as possible."
Black Caps opener Colin Munro is bowled in the fifth ODI against India in Wellington. Photo: Photosport
Guptill had Colin Munro as his opening partner for the entire series against Sri Lanka and for three of the five ODIs against India.
But after a score of 87 in the second match against Sri Lanka, Munro has managed a best of only 31 in his five innings since.
He was dropped for the fourth game against India, replaced at the top by middle-order player Henry Nicholls, only to receive a reprieve when Guptill was injured for game number five.
Guptill and Nicholls will again join forces as openers on Wednesday and the former said they weren't panicking about the failure of the side to establish a strong opening partnership this summer.
"It hasn't worked for us this summer opening the batting.
"But you get times likes that and then you get other times where you can go out and blast it from ball one and have pretty prosperous partnerships up the top."
The series against Bangladesh are the Black Caps last one-day matches before they head to the UK for the World Cup.
Once there, they have warm-up matches against India and the West Indies before their tournament opener against Sri Lanka on 1 June.
