Cricket: Patel or Martin the question for Black Caps

Never mind Chris Cairns' imminent return, the latest selection headache involves who he might bring in on his coat-tails.

Whatever doubt remained over the veteran all-rounder's recall was almost certainly extinguished this week, when Auckland utility player Andre Adams was ruled out of the upcoming Chappell-Hadlee series with an injured finger.

Cairns, having responded to fitness concerns with a busy pre-season campaign, will already be pencilled in for the opening one-dayer against Australia on December 3 at Eden Park, leaving only one more position vacant.

Will Bracewell look to provide cover for the pace attack by adding Chris Martin, or will he lean towards an extra slow bowling option and retain Wellington off-spinner and South African tourist Jeetan Patel?

Patel was placed under intense pressure during New Zealand's opening one-dayer against South Africa, when he grassed an important catch and proved a shade expensive at the bowling crease, before being dropped for the rest of the series.

Initially picked because of his ability to bowl at the death, he would appear an unlikely bet against the Australian batsmen, who tend to demolish any off-spinner who cannot keep them guessing with the "doosra".

But Bracewell might want to keep Patel developing within the squad as insurance against injury-prone spinner Daniel Vettori, and particularly as fellow slow-bowler Chris Harris is still short of international fitness.

Harris can apparently bat and bowl freely but is restricted in the field and cannot throw at full capacity, so is unlikely to be considered until the Sri Lankans or West Indians arrive.

With that in mind, Patel probably needs to get back in the saddle as quickly as possible, if only to prove his mettle before Harris has a chance to return, and remind the selectors of his sometimes compelling combination with Vettori.

Possibly the only player standing in his way is Martin, a good, direct and experienced pace bowler, and probably the only New Zealander to return from the recent "A" tour of Sri Lanka with an enhanced reputation.

The 30-year-old right-armer wouldn't normally be considered as an ODI option on account of his batting; so bad it immediately evokes the memory of Ewen Chatfield and other hopeless rabbits such as Bhagwat Chandrasekhar and Courtney Walsh.

But with the ICC now experimenting with the supersub rule, Martin has been handed an unexpected opportunity to become involved in the shorter game again, and must be at short odds to win a recall next Wednesday.

Bracewell has avoided speculation on the composition of the squad, but said enough on his return from South Africa to suggest that his besieged top-order batsmen would probably receive another chance against Australia.

That should mean the nod for the same eleven who played against South Africa in the fifth ODI at Centurion, with the addition of Cairns and one other bowler - presumably Martin.

Stephen Fleming and Nathan Astle will be retained as the opening combination, Lou Vincent, Scott Styris, Hamish Marshall and Craig McMillan should all keep their places, and Cairns, Brendon McCullum, Kyle Mills, James Franklin and Shane Bond appear certainties.

The other problem for Bracewell will be settling on his starting eleven, and deciding who to leave out to accommodate the return of Cairns - Hamish Marshall or Craig McMillan?

POSSIBLE SQUAD: Stephen Fleming (C), Nathan Astle, Lou Vincent, Hamish Marshall, Scott Styris, Craig McMillan, Chris Cairns, Brendon McCullum, Daniel Vettori, Kyle Mills, James Franklin, Shane Bond, Chris Martin.