New Zealand must score in excess of 300 if they are to make a mark in the World Cup where the barrier has been breached nine times already, key batsman Ross Taylor said Thursday.
The Kiwis struggled to 206 all out against Australia in their previous outing with their batsmen succumbing to the pace of Mitchell Johnson, Shane Watson, Brett Lee and Shaun Tait.
Up against Zimbabwe next, the Black Caps are likely to be tested by doughty spinners led by the veteran left-armer Raymond Price.
"As a batting unit we need to step up and score about 300-330 which is the par score in this tournament," Taylor said ahead of Friday's match.
"We are all very talented. We are getting out there in the middle and just getting ourselves out. It's frustrating but we know we are not far away from that one good performance."
"I think our whole batting order has struggled over the last 12 months or so. We need a couple of players to stand up and perform for us to be competitive."
New Zealand endured a disappointing build-up to the tournament, losing one-day international series against Bangladesh, India and Pakistan. They started the World Cup with a 10-wicket win against Kenya before going down to a seven-wicket defeat to holders Australia.
Taylor, 26, said he needs to improve on his career figures of 2,738 runs from 101 ODIs with three centuries. "Obviously scoring three hundreds (since making one-day debut in 2006) is disappointing," he said.
"I grew up in New Zealand and I know the conditions well. In Australia where the conditions are faster I seem to do ok. But on the slower wickets, I probably struggle. I am not sure why but hopefully I can improve my stats in the next couple of years as we play more in the subcontinent."
