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KEY POINTS:
Rahul Dravid or Murali Vijay? VVS Laxman or Amit Mishra?
In the next few days the coaches of Otago, Canterbury, Wellington, Central and Northern Districts and Auckland could be haggling over choices like that for one round of the State Championship from March 6-9 as New Zealand Cricket
fulfils an obligation to the Indian board to ensure match practice for six Indian players not involved in the preceding Twenty20 and ODI series.
While the Indian sextet - world-class batsmen Dravid and Laxman, relatively unknown opener Vijay, legspinner Mishra and fast-medium pair Dhawal Kulkarni and Lakshmipathy Balaji - will view the games as warmups for the tests, it is a serious business for the provinces as they challenge to reach the championship final in April.
It is also a serious business for NZC. There was a tradeoff between the boards when the Indian itinerary was rejigged last month.
India sought a third test after having their tour of Pakistan rubbed out, for non-cricketing reasons. NZC wanted a second Twenty20 international.
It was agreed to scrub the practice game against New Zealand A to make room for the adjustments, with New Zealand to find a warmup match for the six test specialists who arrive early next month.
Problem one: Persuade the six provinces that this is a good deal, and that the integrity of the championship is not jeopardised.
Three of the six provinces have an overseas player - Wellington (Graham Napier), ND (Hamish Marshall) and Auckland (Steven Croft). Otago, CD and Canterbury don't, although Canterbury have two South Africans, Kruger van Wyk and Johan Myburgh, who are looking to settle in New Zealand.
Teams are permitted one overseas player. Take Wellington, for whom Napier has been a resounding success this season.
Do they fancy dropping him for a game to make way for, say, Balaji, who is hardly likely to match Napier's contribution in his first taste of New Zealand conditions?
Problem two: Work out how to decide which player goes to which province - and this assumes the six associations agree to the plan.
Provinces will put up their hands for specific players based partly on absences caused by the conflicting NZ A games against England A in Queenstown and Lincoln early next month.
ND are without five players for the Queenstown game, two batsmen and three bowlers. Would they prefer quality cover for the batting or bowling?
Now what if four provinces say Dravid - one of the great batsmen, with a test average of 52.28 - is the player they want. Who decides where he goes?
This could be fun. Do they draw straws? Don't snigger, it might be the fairest method. Then if Dravid belted a double century for CD and helped them increase their lead in the championship, it would be put down to the luck of the draw.
Placing players by a method using any form of calculated assessment will surely leave provinces who draw a dud performer aggrieved.
What about musical chairs with a difference? One chair in the room, six coaches circling, the first bum on the seat gets first choice. Or a cricketing idol dance-off between the provincial chief executives?
One thing is sure; NZC must find cricket for the six. They did a deal with the Board of Control for Cricket in India and in these delicate times, this is not a good moment to get offside with the Indians.
