New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori is not averse to filling the batting role left vacant by Jacob Oram's retirement from Test cricket.
Oram has batted at number six for the Blacks Caps at Test level with Vettori usually coming in a couple of places further down the order.
But with the 31-year-old now focusing on the shorter forms of the game, the Black Caps skipper undoubtedly has the pedigree - 3484 runs at 29.77 and 302 wickets over 93 Tests - to move up to the middle order.
"I think it is something we'll have to have a look at. It's not something I'm averse to. I've stepped up in the one-dayers in terms of moving up the order and maybe now is the right time to do that (in Tests) as well," Vettori said.
One possible drawback, though, would be the increase in workload for Vettori who has had his fair share of back injuries in the past.
"We've been talking about the workload on Jacob and I suppose the workload on me will only increase but maybe it's the right thing to do and maybe it's the opportunity for me to step up and actually fulfil that role," he told Radio Sport.
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Oram's Test retirement has also cleared a path for all-rounders James Franklin and Grant Elliott to press for regular inclusion in the squad.
Franklin, a left-arm pace bowler and handy lower-order batsman, has twice replaced Oram in recent months - when the West Indies and India toured New Zealand in the southern hemisphere summer and at the recent Champions Trophy in South Africa.
The 28-year-old has just returned to New Zealand after a season with English county side Gloucestershire where he scored 904 runs, including three hundreds, at an average of 50.22 and took 31 wickets, and Franklin himself believes he is the man to replace Oram.
Vettori does not disagree but wants more consistency from him, saying: "We all understand he has all the talent in the world and we just want him to get back to his best and be able to be a consistent performer for New Zealand because he could become one of our very good players."
Elliott, who Vettori sees as primarily a batsman, will have to bide his time as he faces several weeks on the sidelines with a broken thumb suffered during the Champions Trophy.
New Zealand's next Test series is against Pakistan which begins late next month. Prior to that the Blacks Caps play a one-day and Twenty20 series against the same opponents in Abu Dhabi and Dubai.
The squad for the limited-overs matches is expected to be named on Thursday.
The series, originally scheduled to be played in Pakistan earlier this year, was postponed following the terrorist attack on Sri Lankan cricketers in Lahore in March.
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