Cricket: Guptill and Styris miss out on Bangladesh journey

Bhupinder Singh is in good form. Photo / Getty Images

A few months ago, Martin Guptill was an automatic pick in the national team.

Scorer of a memorable century on his ODI debut at Eden Park in January last year, and a big century against Bangladesh last summer, the 23-year-old seemed well set among the country's batting elite.

But he will be heading for Zimbabwe with New Zealand A in a few weeks, rather than going to Bangladesh for a five-match ODI series at the end of this month.

The tall Aucklander's form has dipped, even though his ODI average remains a steady 33, and so he'll re-mark his guard in a series of four-day games in Africa to try to rediscover his game.

"The last couple of campaigns haven't gone as well as he'd have liked," selector Mark Greatbatch said last night.

"He's lost a bit of form and confidence and we feel the best thing would be not to have any restrictions time-wise, and the best way to do that is play the longer version."

With Scott Styris missing the Bangladesh trip with a partial stress fracture to his lumbar spine, it opens the door for others on the fringe. Aaron Redmond returns to the squad while Shanan Stewart, tried twice against Australia last summer, gets another opportunity.

The five fast-medium bowlers include Canterbury 23-year-old Hamish Bennett, who has been around a while without having noticeably leapt ahead of a solid pack of chasers.

Greatbatch said the time was right to have a look at several players, across the two squads named yesterday, with an eye further down the track.

"He's had a good winter and there's one or two slots available, we thought, to look at players. He's one, and Shanan Stewart is another," Greatbatch said.

Of most interest in the NZ A team is the selection of three spinners. Senior offspinner Jeetan Patel is supplemented by Otago left-armer Nick Beard and Auckland's offspinner Bhupinder Singh.

Beard, 21, has done well on the last couple of Emerging Players/NZ A trips while Singh, 23, caught the eye in his debut summer last season. In four Plunket Shield games he took 17 wickets at 33 runs apiece.

"He gives it a good rip, spins it hard and that brings a point of difference so we're looking to develop that," Greatbatch said, adding that captain Dan Vettori and Jesse Ryder had given him a good endorsement at a recent camp in Brisbane.

Ryder returns for the Bangladesh tour after missing the tri-series as his recovery from an elbow injury took longer than expected.

New Zealand have two warmup games in Bangladesh before the ODIs, on October 5, 8, 11, 14 and 17. The A team play a two-day warmup on October 4-5 with their three games against Zimbabwe in Harare on October 8-11, 15-18 and 22-25.

The squads:

* New Zealand team to tour Bangladesh: Daniel Vettori (c), Brendon McCullum, Jesse Ryder, Aaron Redmond, BJ Watling, Ross Taylor, Shanan Stewart, Kane Williamson, Grant Elliott, Nathan McCullum, Kyle Mills, Tim Southee, Hamish Bennett, Andy McKay, Daryl Tuffey.

* New Zealand A to tour Zimbabwe: James Franklin (c), Tim McIntosh, Martin Guptill, Jamie How, Peter Ingram, Daniel Flynn, Dean Brownlie, Gareth Hopkins, Reece Young, Jeetan Patel, Nick Beard, Brent Arnel, Graeme Aldridge, Chris Martin, Bhupinder Singh.