The four-nation Emerging Players Tournament in August appears to have become an annual fixture, which is a good thing for a nation as cricket-starved as New Zealand. It also features (effectively) second-tier sides from India, South Africa and Australia. The NZ squad was named yesterday, and has thrown up a set of interesting names:
Graeme Aldridge (Northern Districts), Todd Astle (Canterbury), Trent Boult (ND), Doug Bracewell (Central Districts), Neil Broom (Otago), Dean Brownlie (Canterbury), Derek de Boorder (Otago), Daniel Flynn (ND), Anaru Kitchen (Auckland), Bruce Martin (Auckland), Andy McKay (Wellington), BJ Watling (ND), Ben Wheeler (CD), Brad Wilson (ND), Luke Woodcock (Wellington).
Well, interesting mainly because it consists of most of the names I would've chosen to monitor over the domestic season. The lineup is a mix of discards (Broom, Watling, Flynn), exciting young prospects (Boult, Bracewell, De Boorder - supposedly the tidiest gloveman in the country) and seasoned domestic pros (Aldrige, Martin, Woodcock).
How close some of these guys are to international selection is anyone's guess, since only a few among the squad for the previous edition of this tournament did eventually get international callups. But with nothing else leading up to the tours to Zimbabwe and Australia, this provides the only insight into the selectors' plans.
Batting-wise, it appears that the three discards I mentioned are fighting for a single spot in the test side. Neil Broom never really looked the part during his stint with the one-day side across 2009, but his domestic record indicates he much prefers the longer version. With BJ Watling, it's the opposite; he was pigeonholed as a test player despite enjoying more success at limited-overs. I wrote about Dean Brownlie when he performed very well in the same tournament last year, and although he didn't have a great time of it dometically in 2010/11, it appears the selectors are still interested.
On the bowling front, I'm pretty certain at least one of Trent Boult and Todd Astle will make it to the test side this year (in part because the incumbent bowling options are either too old, or washed up). Boult is a 21 year old left-arm swing bowler who's had a good couple of seasons with Northern Districts either side of an injury, while Astle is Aaron Redmond in reverse - an opener-turned-legspinner, who should probably take over from Jeetan Patel as backup spinner to Vettori. Also, it's great to see Andy McKay leading the bowling attack, as he looks likely to enjoy more responsibility at the international level.
Have to say I'm surprised by the absence of Rob Nicol, who was last season's MVP and would add a great deal to the one-day side with his allround skills, not to mention that he could be next in line as test opener if Tim McIntosh runs out of chances. With Brendon McCullum only having taken up the opener's slot a few tests ago, the top order is far from settled and only Watling and Flynn appear to be contenders from this list.
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