KEY POINTS:
At a time when New Zealand's selectors could do with some good news, here's something: James Franklin's rehabilitation is making excellent progress.
The New Zealand allrounder is back in cricket after missing the last 18 months with knee injuries, first the left then, more seriously, the right.
But his form so far for Wellington this season has given all the signs of being the start of a story with a happy ending. He hit 69 and took four for 56 from 23.1 overs in Wellington's innings win over Canterbury at the Basin Reserve last week.
Then he went one big step further at Eden Park this week, clubbing 219 - his second double ton and fourth in first-class cricket - taking advantage of superb batting conditions against Auckland.
There were 28 fours, eight sixes. He got through his share of overs too on a pitch bowlers would see only in their nightmares. So far so good as far as the comeback goes.
He has been here before. Franklin went with the Emerging Players team to Queensland in July and thinks now it might have been a bit early.
He played some cricket for Australian Capital Territory in September, and spent the early rounds of club cricket in Wellington as a batsman.
"I feel reasonably good," he said yesterday morning, having woken following his slightly-under five hours at the crease, and a handful of overs early in Auckland's first innings.
The "good" meant both the productivity from the first two Wellington State Championship games and the fact he's had no glitches with his knees.
"It's a case of taking it day by day, game by game. I think I'd done a reasonable job in the first two games; it's just about continuing to do that," he said.
Several weeks ago, the 28-year-old's ambition was to get through the Wellington season with knees intact.
Not much has changed in terms of adjusting his sights on the New Zealand team and a possible return.
"I don't know if I've moved forward in my thinking," Franklin said.
"It's still a case of me playing well. New Zealand are in Australia and the guys there obviously are ahead of me in the pecking order. I have to play well at domestic level, score runs, take wickets and put the pressure on," he said.
Franklin's 21 tests have yielded 76 wickets and a batting average of 21; he has taken 64 wickets in his 65 ODIs.
There's a sense of unfinished business about the left-hander who knows he can't rush things. But even so, there are highly encouraging signs for Franklin. And New Zealand.
