Martin Guptill, the New Zealand opener, has said his team will have to "show some aggression" in the two-Test series against Australia beginning on December 1 in Brisbane. New Zealand have only toured Zimbabwe since the 2011 World Cup and the Australia series will Ross Taylor's first major assignment as captain.

"They've [Australia] been the top dog over the last few years,'' Guptill told the New Zealand Herald. "We're going to have to show some aggression over there, we can't really back off. They're going to bring the fight to us and we're going to have to take it back to them.''

Guptill is going to Australia for his first international tour in good form, having scored a century in the only Test against Zimbabwe in Bulawayo after which he made an unbeaten 195 for Auckland in the Plunkett Shield.

"We just have to do our jobs right," he said. "If everyone can do that then we're going to go very well in this Test series.''

Australia just completed a closely contested Test series in South Africa, which finished 1-1. They bounced back from a hammering in Cape Town to win the Johannesburg Test by a two-wicket margin. There were questions over the places of several senior Australian players, but Taylor said they remained competitive despite the turbulence.

"They haven't played as well as they would have liked in recent months but they're still a very good side and they're still a team that sets the benchmark," Taylor said. "Australia's always tough in their own conditions, people say they're down but I don't think they are.

"We're under no illusions. We're going over there to win. I always enjoy playing in Australia and I'm looking forward to it. If you score runs and get wickets against Australia then you'll be remembered as a good player.''

New Zealand will have a new challenge to face when they take the field at the Gabba: Pat Cummins, the 18-year-old fast bowler who made a sensational Test debut at the Wanderers, taking a six-wicket haul and hitting the winning runs.

"We haven't seen too much of him [Cummins] but ... we'll be ready for him,'' Guptill said. "He looks pretty quick, but we're going to put some plans in place to be able to counter that. I don't feel too bad at the moment but I'm sure, getting closer to the first Test, I'll start getting a bit nervous and a few butterflies in the stomach.''

New Zealand kick off the tour with a warm-up game against Australia A, beginning on November 24, and Taylor had a theory about why visiting sides were made to start at the Allan Border Field in Brisbane.

"The wicket is very flat and Australia put a lot of touring teams there to tire the bowlers out," Taylor said. "So we'll be going there to conserve the bowlers' energy as much as possible.

"There's probably going to be the talking point of whether we go in with four quicks, or three quicks and Dan [Vettori] batting at No 6. Trent Boult has had an outstanding start to the season. He's been to Australia before and not played so I'm sure he's hurting a little bit there ... [but] even if he bowls well, he still might not make the [test] team. We'll just have to wait and see."