Roger Twose doesn't see a lack of match play as a problem as he leaves for Zimbabwe to join the New Zealand one-day cricket side.

Twose, who played in the two early season games in Singapore and then returned home while waiting to go back to Zimbabwe said there were positives and negatives about the situation which is compounded by it being too early for club cricket to be under way in New Zealand.

"On the one hand you have the ability to refresh yourself and to sharpen your form while that is offset by not being away and being able to adapt to conditions on tour," he said.

And his enthusiasm for the venture is high.

He's only played in Zimbabwe before for Warwickshire as a lead-up to its county programme and is looking forward to the Kenyan leg of the tour, and is hopeful of being able to get a look at some of the sights of that country.

That will depend on how well New Zealand does in the tournament where its first game will be against Zimbabwe, with the winner going straight into a semi-final.

Twose goes on tour with a statistical milestone looming. He is set to become the 11th New Zealand batsman to score 2000 one-day runs. His average is a healthy 37.06, while his highest score is 97, scored against the West Indies last summer.

He is especially looking forward to escaping the heat and humidity which made playing in Singapore such a tough assignment earlier in the summer.

"It was unbearable there. It was 33 degrees and such high humidity that it was hard to breathe," he said.

On his previous visit to Harare he didn't notice any effects of altitude.

And while he said it was easy to look too far ahead towards the South African One-Day Internationals and all the challenges they presented, it would be another opportunity to mix in battle with a good team while seeing new places and players.

Even if that meant coming up against Allan Donald, his former county team-mate and the barrage of South African fast bowlers.

"You can do all the preparation you like," he said of the build-up regime he has been doing, "but it comes down to how you perform and I would have no argument with the person said that 80 per cent of the battle is in the mind."

© CricInfo