Daniel Vettori happy to be the go-to man for Aussie tour

New Zealand skipper Daniel Vettori welcomes the huge workload he's facing on the two-Test tour to Australia.

The Black Caps will rely heavily on Vettori for leadership and for wickets as their sole spin bowler in the squad chosen for the first Test at the Gabba starting on November 20.

But they're also looking to him to score runs moving up the batting order to No.7 in the absence of injured allrounder Jacob Oram.

Fortunately Vettori is used to carrying a big load for the Kiwis and last month lifted them to a series win with his all round performance when they looked in trouble in Bangladesh.

Vettori said he did not expect the extra batting responsibility to affect his captaincy.

"My theory on captaincy is that you lead with your performance, so I'm putting myself in those positions where I can give myself the most opportunity," he said.

"Batting at seven and doing the majority of the bowling is the best way to do that."

Australia might be battling to avoid a Test series defeat in India but Vettori still rates Ricky Ponting's rebuilding team as the biggest challenge in world cricket.

"They are going to come back pretty strong and they have an exceptional batting lineup," he said.

"Maybe where they have struggled a little bit is that lack of quality spinner. In a place like India, you always get found out with that.

"In Australia, you may not need that as much, but I still see them as the toughest ask in world cricket."

The Kiwis take on NSW in a four-day match at the SCG starting next Thursday before moving to Brisbane for the first Test.

The 15-man squad named is only for the first Test beginning on November 20 and contains five pace bowlers with no room for Jeetan Patel, leaving world class left-armer Vettori as the sole spinner.

However, Patel remains in the frame to operate in tandem with Vettori in the second Test the following week at the more spinner-friendly Adelaide Oval.

NZ squad: Daniel Vettori (capt), Aaron Redmond, Jamie How, Jesse Ryder, Ross Taylor, Peter Fulton, Daniel Flynn, Brendon McCullum, Grant Elliott, Gareth Hopkins, Tim Southee, Iain O'Brien, Kyle Mills, Mark Gillespie, Chris Martin.