KEY POINTS:
New Zealand's top cricketers are embarking on a period of international play when they'll get an idea of what it's like to be Sachin Tendulkar or Ricky Ponting.
Not in terms of matching their rich batting ability but in the sheer volume of cricket they'll confront.
For years, India and Australia have been the pacesetters in terms of having a loaded annual book of engagements. England have not been far behind, so too Pakistan, until their cricket became entwined with political events which have played havoc with their schedule in recent years.
New Zealand have by comparison been bit-part players. A busy home season yes, but fewer overseas assignments over the winter months.
However the proliferation of Twenty20 tournaments, added to the pile of test and ODI events, mean New Zealand's best are starting a period of about two years when they'll become intimately acquainted with the layout of hotels and airports round the globe.
The players have mixed feelings on what lies ahead; their association has some concerns.
"We're simply trying to cram too much into 12 months," New Zealand Cricket Players' Association manager Heath Mills said.
"The danger is players will start to opt out. We might get to the stage where players say 'I can't keep doing this, so maybe I'll opt out of international cricket and just play in these Twenty20 competitions', which from our point would be a disaster. We need to ensure international cricket is always the pinnacle of the sport."
At present, one player, Scott Styris, has retired from test cricket but is still available for ODI cricket, while he fulfils a contract with the Indian Premier League. The fear is others might follow suit, or take up a variation of Styris' position.
New Zealand Cricket are looking to put together a Southern Hemisphere Twenty20 tournament - aimed to start by 2010 - with Australia and South Africa. Increasingly the cluttered calendar has a maze-like feel, which will have players checking their diaries, on a "if it's Tuesday the 12th I need to be in Mumbai/if it's Friday the 22nd I'm in Colombo" basis.
New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori is one of six players who are on NZC national contracts, and have IPL Twenty20 deals for the next couple of years.
"We are going to have to sit back at the end of a year and think 'is this a lot or is this something we feel comfortable doing'?" he said.
"At this stage I'm looking at it with some excitement, but a few nerves as well about how much cricket we're going to play. Talk to me in a year and see how we're going."
Vettori has a concern that there seems no discernable shape to the calendar. He believes that should be the main priority for the International Cricket Council.
"Maybe you go down the path where these couple of months are set aside for test cricket, these for one-dayers.
"And you try to make sure all three games are just as important. You don't want guys pulling out to play one form of the game. Your best players are good at every form of it."
Vettori, 29, is a veteran of 85 tests and 225 ODIs, is in his 12th year of international cricket and long established as one of the game's best players. Ross Taylor is a whippersnapper by comparison.
The 24-year-old batsman, with 10 tests and 48 ODIs behind him, is relishing all the game has to offer.
"Chopping and changing from one-dayers to Twenty20 to test matches is going to be hard, but the more games we play the more you get used to that. I see it as a challenge and exciting.
"I'm playing the game I love, but it is going to be hard and rest is going to be crucial to refresh ourselves."
Taylor knows it's a big demand on the players, but "I'd rather be playing cricket than doing something else for a living". He hopes his enthusiasm is intact in 18 months' time.
Between now and February 2011, when the four sub-continental countries will co-host the 10th edition of the World Cup, New Zealand will have tests, ODIs and Twenty20 internationals against at least seven countries - providing events on the Future Tours Programme, such as tours to Zimbabwe and Pakistan go ahead - and are likely to meet the other two, England and South Africa, at some point during multi-team tournaments.
It is a fluid situation with question marks over some events, such as the mooted quadrangular Twenty20 tournament in 2010 involving the West Indies, England and Sri Lanka with the hand of Sir Allen Stanford hovering above it, a tri-series in Sri Lanka in the same year and the Southern Hemisphere event.
But cricket's authorities are moving to maximise the game's newest cash cow so expect them to stuff the pillow as full as possible.
Mills knows some New Zealand players are viewing the three-month break between this year's tours of England and Bangladesh as their only break of note for two years.
All parties should share the blame for the workload, boards and players. Both are keen to make the most of their earning potential.
"But there's got to be a rationalisation some time soon or you'll find someone like Tim Southee (who is 19) has had enough by 25, and that's not good for anyone," Mills said.
"I think Twenty20 cricket is going to be great for all of us, but the biggest issue facing cricket at the moment is how much we're playing, the burnout and how it should be rationalised - and too few people are acknowledging it at the moment."
