Cricket: No Ryder, no Sodhi, no Patel - what's up?

Jesse Ryder walks off unbeaten on 165 in the CD Stags' Plunket Shield match against Auckland Aces at Saxton Oval, Nelson, last month. Photo/Photosport

Eleven runs shy of a record back-to-back four centuries and that still wasn't enough for Central Districts Stags batsman Jesse Ryder to break into the New Zealand A team, never mind the Black Caps test one this week.

So slipping on the green-and-yellow eye patch, let's cut to the chase and go straight to convener of national selectors Gavin Larsen, bearing in mind Ryder has a history with New Zealand Cricket but has worked in tandem with CD coach Heinrich Malan to make all the right noises in the past two summers.

"He's played superbly and we know he's a great player and they were great innings to watch, they really were," says Larsen who nutted out the Black Caps test side to play the West Indies (one to be added) on December 1 and a New Zealand A side with fellow co-selectors Mike Hesson, the New Zealand coach, and Bob Carter as well as co-opting former New Zealand international left-arm finger spinner Paul Wiseman.

He said the NZ A side were representative of the best players after the Black Caps incumbents, including Stags batsman George Worker, fast bowler Adam Milne and lusty middle-order pinch hitter Tom Bruce.

CD new-ball seamer and two-match international Seth Rance wasn't considered due to injury, as was Northern Districts Knights batsman Dean Brownlie.

So has Ryder passed his use-by date?

"We never say that and we never say never. I've explained the criteria around that and Jesse's not in that team," says Larsen of the 33-year-old middle-order batsman who last played for New Zealand in the test arena against Australia in Hobart in December 2011 (18th match, averaging 40.93) and the last ODI (48th, averaging 33.33) against India in Wellington in January 2014.

"He's got the next chance to put the runs on the board so that's the next set of players we'll be reaching into."

The NZ A side will play a three-day warm-up match against the tourists in Lincoln, near Christchurch, the following Saturday and 50-over games and Twenty20s to bookend the summer in March.

The intriguing aspect to NZ A is the appointment of Martin Guptill as captain but the 31-year-old Auckland Aces batsman's test average is 29.38 from 47 matches, raising questions on whether he has the temperament for the red-ball format.

Guptill managed eight runs at first drop in the first-class game against ND in Hamilton yesterday although his ODI average of 42.71 is well documented.

Aces player Jeet Raval, who scored 37 runs at Seddon Park yesterday, is the only player named in both sides and Larsen says that's to give the opening batsman some exposure.

Reflecting on the middle order, he said the selectors recognised the versatility of Bruce, of Taranaki, traditionally seen as a white-ball specialist.

"We think he's a superb allround cricketer who has a good future in all formats ... and he's moving forward nicely."

The presence of blistering pace bowlers Milne, Lockie Ferguson and Scott Kuggeleijn in the NZ A equation isn't so much a snapshot of conservatism in speed kills as it is injection to the production line as an insurance policy.

Larsen says no doubt, through attrition, they'll see the trio coming in for first-choice seamers Tim Southee, Trent Boult and Neil Wagner as the summer wears on.

"They [Black Caps] are our proven incumbent test bowlers and both of them [Southee, Boult] had a sense of freshness about them [in India] and that's a reflection of the time they've had off."

Larsen says he, Hesson and Carter will be watching the NZ A side in Lincoln but the prudent will be mindful that it's imperative the flutter trio with their express pace also will have to display line and length to avoid becoming road kill against a resurgent Windies.

The omission of leg spinner Ish Sodhi from either team barks like a rabid dog despite an eventful stint in India but Larsen reassures the Knights cricketer isn't far from their minds.

"He fits in big time. I think we're very lucky in New Zealand that we have three good spinners."

Which raises the question of where left-arm orthodox Stags spinner Ajaz Patel comes in after becoming the leading wicket-taker for consecutive summers, with 44 scalps from nine matches last season, one better than his 43 in 2015-16, including four five-wicket bags.

"You know, he's a bowler definitely on the improve," says Larsen, adding Patel's behind the likes of first-choice ND tweaker Mitch Santner, Todd Astle, of Canterbury Kings, who is in the NZ A squad, and Sodhi.

The co-selectors were in Dunedin watching the CD Stags v Otago Volts game at the Otago of University Oval and were impressed with Patel's approach on a benign batting strip.

But he says Sodhi "bowled beautifully in India" but also had some work-on areas, including contributing with the bat to make him an allround contributor.

The selectors must be lauded for persisting with Black Caps opening batsman Tom Latham who showed his worth in India.

Last summer there was conjecture the 25-year-old Cantabrian, who can also keep wickets, should be dropped although the leftie averages in the mid-to-late 30s in tests and ODIs.

NZ/NZA teams

■ BLACK CAPS: Kane Williamson (c, ND), Trent Boult (ND), Colin de Grandhomme (Auckland), Matt Henry (Canterbury), Tom Latham (Canterbury), Henry Nicholls (Canterbury), Jeet Raval (Auckland), Mitchell Santner (ND), Tim Southee (ND), Ross Taylor (CD), Neil Wagner (Otago), BJ Watling* (ND)
(one to be added)

*Injury: Watling is subject to fitness due to hip injury.

■ NEW ZEALAND A: Martin Guptill (c, Auckland), Todd Astle (Canterbury), Tom Blundell (Wellington), Neil Broom (Otago), Tom Bruce (CD), Lockie Ferguson (Auckland), Scott Kuggeleijn (ND), Adam Milne (CD), Colin Munro (Auckland), Jeet Raval (Auckland), George Worker (CD).

Injuries: Seth Rance (CD), Dean Brownlie (ND) not considered.