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Captain Daniel Vettori is confident he has the New Zealand cricket team to be serious Champions Trophy contenders in September - assuming they're not ravaged by player boycotts.
Fresh from their 3-1 one-day series win over England, the tourists head home on Friday after a two-match cricketing public relations trip to Aberdeen to play Scotland and Ireland, with Pakistan looming as their next serious challenge.
That's assuming they get there, with security fears over the volatile nation set to dominate cricketing discussions in coming weeks, and Sri Lanka and South Africa on standby as backup venues.
New Zealand Cricket (NZC) chief executive Justin Vaughan admitted last week that "a fair number" of players had expressed concerns to him about visiting Pakistan for three one-dayers in August and the subsequent Champions Trophy.
New Zealand Cricket Players' Association head Heath Mills went a step further yesterday.
"I have no doubt that if the tournament takes place in Pakistan a number of players will pull out. That includes New Zealanders," Mills told the Herald on Sunday.
Vaughan and the players are awaiting security reports on Pakistan from the International Cricket Council (ICC), being tabled at the current executive meeting in Dubai.
He urged New Zealand players not to make hasty decisions on their availability until the reports were seen.
Safety concerns aside, Vettori felt after his side's 51-run win victory over England at Lord's marked them as worthy No 3 side in the world on official ICC rankings.
With big-hitting opener Jesse Ryder and allrounder James Franklin still to return from injury, and Chris Martin still seen as an ODI option, Vettori felt they could make a splash at full strength.
"It's a good one-day team, we cover most of the bases with what you need in a one-day set-up; we've got some good hitters, good bowlers and we're a good fielding side on our day," Vettori said.
"We've got the makings of a team that can compete at the Champions Trophy. Now it's about time we go away trying to win these tournaments as opposed to just maintaining that third ranking."
New Zealand have their names on the Champions Trophy, their only major tournament victory when Stephen Fleming's side won it in Nairobi in 2000.
Vettori said world champions Australia were always the obvious favourites but the retirements of Glenn McGrath, Adam Gilchrist and key spinner Brad Hogg had helped their opponents.
"Hopefully they come back to the pack but Australia always seem to have a knack of lifting for those big tournaments.
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