New Zealand coach John Wright is looking forward to New Zealand's numerous new caps stepping up in the absence of their sidelined senior stars.

With captain Ross Taylor and Jesse Ryder nursing injury, southpaw seamer Michael Bates, leg-spinner Tarun Nethula, all-rounder Andrew Ellis and wicketkeeper-batsman Tom Latham enter the fold for the upcoming ODI series against Zimbabwe. All-rounder Colin de Grandhomme and left-arm spinner Ronnie Hira, meanwhile, have been included in the T20I squad.

"We've got Ross out, Jesse out. We had to find replacements. and tried to pick a side that has produced form this year," said Wright.

"You look at someone like Latham and you think, 'well, he's had outstanding form, but it's very early for him,' then again, 'against Zimbabwe, it's probably not a bad time to have a look.' There are some match-ups in both the teams - for the ODIs and T20s - that we are interested to see how they fit into the team, how they conduct themselves and the quality of their cricket.

"The reason they were part of the two best teams was that individually they were some of the best-performed players. That's how good teams get results, the individuals perform. The guys that have been selected, if you look at the numbers, they all justify the selections.

"We have given the opportunity to Ronnie Hira and we also want to see how Nethula goes in the longer form of the game. That will give us a line on those two players as well. Then you match up Ellis, who we feel could have been picked in either form of the game. We'll get a line on him and Colin de Grandhomme.

The first ODI gets underway on Friday in Dunedin, with matches two and three taking place in Whangarei and Napier on 6 and 9 February respectively. 11 and 14 February bring the first and second T20I in Auckland and Hamilton respectively.

Brendon McCullum will lead the hosts in the absence of the injured Taylor, who endured a calf strain in the one-off Test against the same opposition earlier this week.