Lynn McConnell in Dunedin
Batting, traditionally New Zealand's Achilles heel, is in the spotlight as Pakistan hosts New Zealand, yes that's right, at Dunedin's University Oval starting on Tuesday.
For too long, New Zealand has been let down as a revolving door of batsmen have been ushered into the national side, given their chance and then thrown on a scrap heap that would be starting to cause carbon credit issues in most other industries.
That hasn't been helped by the absence of a core of experienced players who walked away from the team at just the stages of their careers they should have been providing the benefits of their opportunities to the good of the country's batting.
So as Pakistan is forced to play this home series on New Zealand soil due to security issues at home, it is the New Zealand batsmen who must provide the substance to a side desperate to regain its Test mojo.
Openers Tim McIntosh and Martin Guptill, should they be required to kick the Test off at noon on Tuesday, will face a testing time in conditions expected to favour the faster bowlers for the first session or two at least.
After that it should be hay-making time for batsmen and Pakistan manager Intikhab Alam has already signalled that whoever bats first should be looking to occupy the crease for at least four and probably five sessions to give themselves the best chance to win the Test.
A New Zealand team hasn't done that for many years and therein lies the challenge ahead of the side.
No.3 batsman Daniel Flynn would have scored his maiden Test century at the same ground in last year's first home Test of the summer had he not fallen victim to the umpire referral system, and he, like his openers, needs to provide the base to allow stroke makers like Ross Taylor, Peter Fulton, Grant Elliott and Brendon McCullum to go about their expected jobs.
Captain Daniel Vettori acknowledged the pressure on the batsmen.
"There's probably going to be a focus on the batting. We're going in with only four bowlers so they [the batsmen] have to step up," he said.
"In the past we've had a little bit of a luxury with the all-rounder but this time everyone has to step up and do their job.
"We have to be honest and acknowledge our batting hasn't been as good as we'd like. We go into a Test match with six batters, their role is to bat. None of them have to worry about bowling," he said.
Pakistan was a dangerous side but by applying pressure with either the ball or the bat, New Zealand could make life difficult for the tourists.
But at the same time the balance of the Pakistan attack, and the batting with Mohammad Yousuf at the helm made it a dangerous side.
"They've got some good bowlers. Whilst they may not have the experience of previous Pakistan teams, they've certainly got a high skill level and for us to do well it's going to be able to manage them and [Saeed] Ajmal or [Danish] Kaneria.
"They're not as quick as some of the guys we've faced in the past but they're a highly-skilled bowling line-up, more difficult than really quick ones sometimes," Vettori said.