KEY POINTS:
It's hard to predict how Scott Styris will be reacting to his dropping from the test team but the treatment of such a quality and senior player in such fashion is risky.
Styris is our best all-round batsman in limited-overs cricket and a proven performer in test cricket. Accepted, his form over his last five tests has not been great but we simply do not have the depth of skill in this country to be so flippant in the treatment of such a player.
While New Zealand Cricket and fans desire consistency of selection, it is something that is more in the hands of the players themselves. Performance must remain the only currency to guarantee future selection and many of those who have revolved in and out of the team would have surely known they were ready for the axe.
For Styris, however, it would have come as a shock.
If this is what the selectors wanted - a shock to the Styris system - then they have succeeded but I hope they know what they are doing. In recent times the team has lost Nathan Astle, Craig McMillan and Stephen Fleming from limited overs and imminently all forms and, by all accounts, Shane Bond is set to move on the less strenuous Indian Cricket League.
We cannot continue to leak our best and most experienced players at such a rate.
If the administration is following the directives hired gun Ric Charlesworth wanted implemented (one of them was to ensure no player was comfortable in his position) then they are succeeding but I feel there have to be better ways to turn the form of key players than sackings.
When it comes to a player of Styris' ability, it should be the last option. With little by the way of international depth in this country, man-management of our current players should be the key focus.
Right now the feeling I get is that our selectors want to clean out the old wood as soon as possible and start fresh to build a new team in their own image.
It's a dangerous strategy because there are currently too many distractions in the form of high-paying alternatives for disenchanted players to follow.
As more senior players who are still capable at the top level travel over to the Indian Twenty20 leagues, those leagues will strengthen. This will only encourage younger players to chase the big money in the establishing leagues and all of sudden the Black Caps stocks could be decimated.
We can all look forward to an extended period of rebuilding that could extend longer than it should.
However I do concede that the re-selection of Matthew Bell and Mathew Sinclair, both of whom are in their 30s, is positive. It shows that performance at the provincial level will not be overlooked and re-selection is possible.
Well, as long as you come with a high degree of manageability and no baggage, unlike - it would appear - Andre Adams.
