Cricket: Time for Mathew Sinclair to stand and deliver

By RICHARD BOOCK

Never mind maybes or what-ifs, Mathew Sinclair's international prospects for this summer depend almost entirely on his performance at the Champions Trophy tournament in Sri Lanka.

The man who promised so much with his historic test double-century two years ago, has since managed to lose his way in both forms of the game, and was only recalled to the one-day side after injuries to Chris Cairns and, for a time, Lou Vincent.

Poised to play a role at No.3 when New Zealand square off against Australia in Colombo on Sunday, Sinclair will know he needs to grab his opportunity to impress immediately - as there will be precious few opportunities later in the season.

With all eyes on the Champions Trophy defence and the upcoming World Cup in South Africa, the focus this summer will be unashamedly on the shorter game, leaving any test specialists or fringe players with only the barest of programmes.

Should Sinclair struggle for runs in Sri Lanka, his place in the side will probably be taken by Cairns during the home series against India, and there is no guarantee he would win selection ahead of either Matt Horne or Chris Nevin in the World Cup squad.

That would leave just the two tests against India and a low-key domestic campaign, a poor substitute for someone who has already scored two test double-centuries and two ODI centuries.

The problem for Sinclair is his glaring inconsistency, something borne of a far-from-ideal technique in which his feet make only vague movements in relation to the line and length of the ball.

Because of this, his contribution to the test team has invariably swung between the sublime and the ridiculous, resulting in his axing from the side at the completion of last summer's home series against Bangladesh.

Asked at the time to go back to provincial cricket, improve his technique and make plenty of runs, Sinclair managed to live up to the last part of the bargain, but evidently without making the adjustments deemed so necessary by the national selectors.

He subsequently missed a recall for the England series.

If his ODI fortunes have not been as dramatic, it's only because Sinclair has been unable to reach the same dizzy heights as he has in the test arena, his modest form leaving him with an average of 26.00 after 23 outings.

For all that, with Cairns out of the picture, Stephen Fleming opening and Nevin in danger of losing his place completely, Sinclair has a clear chance to make his mark in Sri Lanka.

His scores from No.3 during last week's practice matches in Sydney - 27, 37 and 43 - suggest he has the inside running to win a place in the XI, which would leave him facing one of the biggest innings of his career on Sunday.

Not that anyone's counting, but in the three ODIs he has played against Australia, Sinclair has scored 19 runs at an average of 6.33.