New Zealand selection convener Sir Richard Hadlee acknowledges Zimbabwe has been a hard team to beat at home, but he is hopeful the Black Caps have targeted two wins in the Test series which starts in Bulawayo on Tuesday night (NZ time).

Having been in India for a month with the New Zealand Academy team, Hadlee had been marvelling at the developing talent below Test level. Then he arrived home on Friday and found that the latest cricket investment, Mark Richardson, was paying a huge dividend with a triple century in the last build-up game before the first Test.

"I'm delighted with what Mark has done. We saw signs of that on the 'A' tour of England earlier this year.

"To score a triple century was great and now we clearly want to see those things in Test cricket.

"What I like about him is that he is a left-hander, he knows his game plan and he plays within that.

"He batted in the middle-order for Otago, and saw a weakness at the top of the order with New Zealand and decided to try for it. He is another late developer in the Andrew Jones mould," he said.

What Richardson's emergence had done was create competition for places in the side with four guys, Richardson, Matthew Horne, Mathew Sinclair and Craig Spearman vying for three places.

"Two wins are important in Zimbabwe. You can never under-estimate them. They have a fine home record. But they are without Murray Goodwin and Neil Johnson, who were two pivotal players and we will need to put pressure on their new players.

"The guys are scoring runs, they are getting wickets so they must be confident," he said.

And confident is what Hadlee is about New Zealand's emerging players after his experiences in India.

Making the tour was valuable for him to see the next tier of players coming through and to see how they reacted to the touring environment.

Hadlee was delighted with the impression the Academy side made on the Indians and the chances provided for future contact. He sees it as an ideal way for young players to learn to handle foreign conditions.

And that is not only for New Zealand players, but also for the Indians, whose senior players have a reputation for not doing well away from home.

"From New Zealand's point of view, the majority of cricket is played on the sub-continent and you need to be able to handle those conditions.

"If you want to be confident you have to know how to play in foreign conditions.

"Some of the players who were on the tour have got some work to do but there is a pool of players that is starting to develop so there will be more competition for places in the main side," he said.

© CricInfo