The 15-man squad for the tour to Bangladesh has been announced. A test rubber was scheduled initially, but that has since been changed so that the tour will feature only a limited overs leg, which is pretty much the done thing these days in the lead up to a World Cup. The fine-tuning for the big tournament starts here.
Expectedly, Vettori, McCullum and Ryder return to the side after missing the Sri Lanka tri series. Scott Styris and Jacob Oram are both out with injuries, while Martin Guptill has been told to regain his form with the A team to Zimbabwe. Aaron Redmond and Shanan Stewart have been recalled, while Cantebury paceman Hamish Bennett has been called up for the first time.
As usual, I have my issues with some of these selections. I personally think Guptill should have been allowed one series to try and arrest his slide, but in any case I have my doubts over the choice of middle-order replacements. I had earlier written a post about up-and-comer Dean Brownlie, and if the selectors are indeed interested in him - he has been included on the 'A' tour - this would have been the ideal opportunity to blood him. Redmond and Stewart were probably the next names in the queue anyway, but I'd have liked to see the selectors pick on the basis of form this time.
The selection of Bennett is also questionable; given there are already four frontline seamers in the side, he would probably be better off touring Zimbabwe and playing himself into contention for the test team. Actually, with subcontinent conditions in mind, what we need is a set of slower bowlers to operate in tandem with Vettori. In the absence of Styris and Oram, perhaps allrounder Rob Nicol (who appeared in two T20 games against Sri Lanka) might have fitted the bill.
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13 years ago
4 comments:
The dropping of Guptill... looming for months... now the axe came down on him...
I'm curious to see if Ryder manages to pull the pants up or, well, not. Vettori seems to keep backing him but to me this just looks like massive desperation, you can't be THAT optimistic. NZ must really be staring into the abyss if they need to rely on him.
Guptill needed to be dropped I reckon. He wasn't doing anything since too long and hopefully the trip with the A team will do him better.
Are the Blackaps again bothered by injuries? Too bad, Piggy seemed to be doing a decent job of late.
Wes, I hope Ryder realises how important he is for the Kiwis and tries a little harder to keep his off field behaviour in check. He really seems to be a decent batsmen.
I think the problem is that Ryder is too complacent about his importance to the Black Caps, hence why he'll never be too serious about staying off the plonk because they're forced to always give him "one last chance".
This is all an appetizer for the tour to India anyway, and I suspect one M Guptill will make that touring squad.
Well by the Black Caps standards Ryder's international record is still impressive - he averages 50 in tests and 35 in ODIs - so they really can't afford to leave him out. My worry is that his attitude off the field is starting to rub off on his batting, seeing the careless manner of his dismissals in the world T20. Assuming he makes it to the squad, the India tour is a very important one for his career.
About Guptill, yes he's been in terrible form but I thought he might might be better off trying to regain his touch in Bangladesh rather than agianst Zimbabwe. Hope he proves me wrong.
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