Cricket: Ditching struggling Bell seems best

By Richard Boock

A relatively straightforward selection issue is in danger of becoming hopelessly complicated when the New Zealand cricket team is named for the second test against India, starting in Kanpur tonight.

The tour selectors seem likely to recall off-spinner Paul Wiseman for test duty, but at the expense of another bowler rather than for the player who has struggled so badly against India - opening batsman Matthew Bell.

At a time when the situation is crying out for Bell (who has a test average of 6.00 against India) to be rested, and for the remainder of the top-order to shuffle up a position, the selectors are leaning towards omitting Shayne O'Connor instead, and subsequently limiting their bowling options.

A straight swap of Wiseman for Bell would leave Craig Spearman opening with Matt Horne and skipper Stephen Fleming back at No 3, but it would also mean the tourists could afford to carry an extra bowler and a far more varied attack.

Whether that would include the left-arm swing of O'Connor (who seems to trouble top-class right-handers), or the extra pace of Chris Drum - on the strength of his four for 19 against Karnataka the other day - is not as important as the balance which would be brought to the side.

On the other hand, New Zealand's batting line-up would hardly be disadvantaged by the change, with Adam Parore and Chris Cairns perfectly capable at six and seven, respectively, and the lower-order bolstered by the abilities of Dion Nash and Daniel Vettori.

It's unlikely to happen of course, as Fleming has only just been granted his wish to drop down to No 4 and Bell seems to have the faith of the home selectors, who have been anxious to give the right-hander every chance to establish himself in the test environment.

However, the way things have been going recently, the only difference between batting at No 3 and No 4 for New Zealand is about five deliveries, and in that regard, Fleming might as well revert to his old position.

It's been 12 years since India has lost a test series at home, and - though New Zealand performed superbly on the first day of the first test at Mohali - the second test venue is expected to provide even more assistance for the hosts' spintrio.

India's dominance at home (in stark contrast to their record abroad) can be traced through the last decade, during which time they have won 16 of their 28 tests while losing five and drawing seven - including the match against New Zealand at Mohali Since 1990 they have been involved in eight series, of which five were won and three were drawn, against the West Indies in 1994, Sri Lanka in 1997, and Pakistan (1-1) earlier this year.

In that time they have only been prevented from winning the first test of each series on three occasions, once by Sri Lanka in 1997, again by Pakistan earlier this year, and most recently when New Zealand saved the test at Mohali.

New Zealand were denied an ideal build-up to tonight's test when a charter flight was cancelled yesterday, forcing the tour party to split and spend the night in two different parts of India.

The players, manager Jeff Crowe and physio Mark Harrison were left in New Delhi, while the advance party of coach David Trist and the rest of the management team were in Kanpur, about 500km to the south-east.

A replacement charter flight between New Delhi and a military base near Kanpur was eventually arranged for the players, but it was not big enough to carry Trist and his group as well, who went by road.

New Zealand (from): Stephen Fleming (captain), Matthew Horne, Matthew Bell, Craig Spearman, Nathan Astle, Craig McMillan, Adam Parore, Chris Cairns, Dion Nash, Daniel Vettori, Paul Wiseman, Shayne O'Connor, Chris Drum, Chris Harris, Andrew Penn.

India: Sachin Tendulkar (captain), Sadagopan Ramesh, Devang Ghandi, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly, Ajay Jadeja, Vijay Bharadwaj, Mannava Prasad, Anil Kumble, Javagal Srinath, Sunil Joshi, Venkat Prasad, Harbhajan Singh, Debashish Mohanty.