Cricket: Parore calls for whitewash in Zimbabwe

BULAWAYO - New Zealand's most experienced cricketer, Adam Parore, is demanding nothing less than a 2-0 test series win over Zimbabwe.

The 29-year-old wicketkeeper said there would have to be questions asked if New Zealand did not come away with a clean sweep.

"If we play near the peak of our ability we should be too good for them," Parore said. "If we don't win both tests I'll be a bit disappointed. If we win one and draw the other that would be okay, and anything other than that's unacceptable."

Parore has been on both New Zealand's previous tours to Zimbabwe, in 1992 when they won the series 1-0, and in 1997 when both tests were drawn.

He is all too familiar with the pressures of playing in Zimbabwe, where the home side's style on flat pitches has proved the downfall of touring teams.

"It's frustrating playing against them and I think that's where the niggle comes from. The conditions level the teams up a bit and they play negatively.

"They've been quite successful doing it so you have to take your hat off to them. They're hard to beat at home and if we win this test series we would have played bloody well."

Aside from targeting a series win, Parore is getting closer to some significant milestones in his test career.

It is 10 years since he made his debut, in England, and two more tests will draw him level with fellow wicketkeeper Ian Smith on 63 appearances, fourth on the all-time New Zealand list behind Sir Richard Hadlee's 86, John Wright's 82 and Martin Crowe's 77.

Parore also has 144 test dismissals and should be nearing Smith's record of 176 by the end of the three tests in South Africa.

"I get a bit of a chuckle looking at my name slotted in among those guys. There's a bit of life in the old dog yet. I'm feeling pretty spritely, so with a few more years I can push up the list a bit more."

Parore said he would dearly love to be on the next tour to England in three years after the high of beating them in a series last year.

He and most of his team-mates agree that the four-month break during the winter was the best thing to happen after nearly two years on the road.

Parore felt the strain last season and was dropped from the one-day team during the Australian series.

But he said he felt revitalised and was enjoying training and playing as much as ever.

"I would regard last year as one of the down years. I lost that enthusiasm with the sheer pressure I was under as a player, and the magnitude of the season.

"Four months' break was just the tonic. I got fit again, refocused and I think the difference in my game's been apparent."

None more so than in his batting, which started with 103 not out in the tour opener in Mutare then followed with a classy 61 not out in Kwekwe.

- NZPA