Cricket: Rich domestic batting form boosts options

What's up with New Zealand's test batsmen?

How come only one player from an under-performing top six - Ross Taylor the obvious exception - got the boot for the deciding third test starting at Napier's McLean Park today out of the wreckage of the Basin Reserve defeat?

All this has stirred a pile of criticism after three successive test innings of 153, 99 and 263 over the first two tests. It all begs the question: is there anybody out there who can do better? The question selectors' ask when preparing to drop an encumbent is just that.

They opted to retain the four with a cloud hovering over them - Tim McIntosh, Martin Guptill, Daniel Flynn and Grant Elliott - for Napier, but presumably with "Must Do Better" flashed in neon letters before their eyes for this test.

So, who are the others the selectors, Mark Greatbatch, Glenn Turner and captain Dan Vettori could have turned to?

The obvious middle order contender to replace either Fulton or Elliott in a like-for-like change was Otago's ODI representative Neil Broom.

Since the start of the 2006-07 season - using three full seasons, plus the first half of this summer's Plunket Shield to give a reasonable measuring stick - Broom has scored 1911 domestic first-class runs at 53.08.

Fulton has 1541 at 48.15, and Elliott 1170 at 43.33.

To make it an even playing field, test runs by the latter two, or first-class runs outside the domestic competition, were taken out of the equation.

But the more interesting numbers come up when assessing the various opening batting contenders.

Given that New Zealand will line up their 30th different opening pair today - Tim McIntosh and BJ Watling - since the start of the decade, it's not surprising there are several former test openers still kicking around domestic cricket.

So how do the numbers compare and who might have the biggest cause for grievance at being overlooked?

Any statistical assessment doesn't take into account "easy" runs, or those gained softly in a tame, final afternoon knockabout, or players who have limited opportunities because of injury.

It also doesn't raise a flag when batsmen were facing test quality new ball attacks - such as Shane Bond and Chris Martin for Canterbury this season - vs a pair of young tyros - or pitch conditions where variations such as McLean Park and Dunedin's University Oval provide different levels of examination of a batsman's worth.

Still, they offer a reasonable indication of the players' merits.

First the men in possession of the opening jobs.

McIntosh has been playing first-class cricket since the 1998-99 season and has just turned 30.

In 91 first-class games he has hit 4679 runs at 32.72 with 14 hundreds, 17 fifties.

But, using the start of the 2006-07 season as the yardstick, McIntosh has made 1487 runs at 40.18 in domestic first-class matches.

Watling, 24, and a Northern Districts representative since 2004-05, has racked up 2155 runs at 30.35 in 40 games, with five hundreds and nine fifties in that time.

They and seven other players were compared over the last three and a half domestic seasons. Six - Martin Guptill, Jamie How, Craig Cumming, Aaron Redmond, Michael Papps and Matthew Bell - are former test openers, with Guptill still in the side but having moved down to No 3 for current tests.

The exception is Central Districts' long-serving Peter Ingram, or the Manaia Marauder to his backers.

He is 31, so his time could yet come. Greatbatch said this week Ingram has been mentioned round the selection table.

His numbers are impressive. Yet so too are those of Cumming, Papps and Bell, all of whom appear to have slipped down the pecking order.

All the numbers prove is that when the panel meet, they should have no shortage of options.

OPENING UP

Batting performances in the national first-class competition since the 2006-07 season:

Michael Papps (Canterbury):

25 matches, 2305 runs,

average 56.21

Matthew Bell (Wellington):

24, 1905, 52.91

Peter Ingram (CD):

27, 2378, 52.84

Craig Cumming (Otago):

21, 1649, 49.96

Aaron Redmond (Otago):

19, 1215, 46.73

Tim McIntosh (Auckland):

22, 1487, 40.18

Jamie How (CD):

14, 909, 39.52

BJ Watling (ND):

21, 1437, 37.81

Martin Guptill (Auckland):

16, 634, 24.38