David Leggat: Selectors hoping perseverance will reap rewards

Mark Greatbatch. Photo / Getty Images

Talk about keeping the faith.

You've got to give the New Zealand cricket selectors credit for sticking by their man, in this case retaining Peter Ingram in the troublesome No 3 spot for this week's first test against Australia.

Their spokesman, coach Mark Greatbatch, had talked last week about wanting to give players a chance, rather than adjusting a team lineup more often than you change a pair of socks.

That was a broad hint that the 31-year-old Central Districts man would be given another opportunity, despite having been worked over by the Australian fast-medium men during the limited-overs segment of their tour.

Once they had set their minds on not picking the form man, 19-year-old Kane Williamson, on grounds of age and the identity of the opposition, their choices were limited.

Williamson gave them further grief in a sense over the weekend, with 192 and five for 59 from his handy off spin in Northern Districts' walloping of Auckland in Whangarei. He is putting his hand up more often than a schoolboy with a dodgy bladder.

With captain Dan Vettori, also a selector, opting to stick at No 6 in the order, it left the panel with few choices for No 3. One of them, 34-year-old Mathew Sinclair, returns as batting cover, specifically for the top order.

That meant no place for Neil Broom, who had been in the 13 for the last test match, against Bangladesh in Hamilton last month.

Broom is seen as a middle-order batsman in this context.

Sinclair last played a test against England in 2008. His story is one of New Zealand cricket's most thumbed - two double hundreds and a 150 against Allan Donald, Shaun Pollock and Makhaya Ntini at Port Elizabeth.

Those considerable spikes stand out among a pile of troughs and eventually he was dispensed with, only to return as a stop-gap for an ODI against the West Indies a year after his previous appearance.

He has had a good season with CD, averaging 58; he has 29 first-class hundreds and a 48.81 average.

The problem is: would you put your shirt on getting more runs from Vettori at No 6 or Sinclair anywhere in the order?

Back to Ingram. He's been a flogger of first-class attacks for the past four summers and maintains his lack of footwork is not necessarily a hindrance to making runs at international level.

In one respect he deserves another opportunity; the long game is the form in which he has been most successful.

New Zealand management have tried to back that by pointing out the likes of Indian champions Sachin Tendulkar and Virendar Sehwag don't bother much with their feet either. Moving on ...

Vettori at No 6 means five bowlers for the Basin Reserve, most likely with ND's Brent Arnel still left to wonder if he'll ever get a test debut after several inclusions in a preparatory squad.

A middle quartet of Ross Taylor, Martin Guptill - whose 189 against Bangladesh at No 5 means he's unlikely to fancy shifting back up to No 3 any time soon - Vettori and Brendon McCullum, with an impressive century in that same test last month, looks as good as could be mustered for New Zealand.

But most eyes will be on events further up the order at the Basin Reserve next Friday.