Cricket: Selectors sure to deliver surprises

By RICHARD BOOCK

Whatever one-day squad the national cricket selectors roll out tomorrow evening, it seems safe to expect the unexpected.

Hardly a month has passed when they have not plucked someone from relative obscurity.

The chances of it happening again tomorrow, when they announce their side for the three one-day internationals against Zimbabwe, seem better than even.

So far this season we have seen the likes of Hamish Marshall and James Franklin whistled up for international honours, and when the panel discuss the 13-strong one-dayer squad it would be no surprise if the names of Aucklanders Kyle Mills and Tama Canning, Wellington's Carl Bulfin and Otago's Kerry Walmsley receive a mention.

Whoever receives the final nod, it appears that the selectors will continue with the madcap scheme of including two wicketkeepers, leaving the batting relatively untouched down to No 8, and the main questions hovering over the bowling attack.

With a patched-up Geoff Allott unlikely to be available for the series, interest centres on whether the selectors will include test success Chris Martin as a straight replacement, particularly given their recent desire to have an attacking strike-bowler carrying the new ball.

There might also be some discussion about whether to pick two spinners in Brooke Walker and Paul Wiseman, and perhaps more pertinently, which of the pair to choose if they decide to carry just one.

Wiseman proved a considerable success on the few occasions he was used in Africa, and particularly in the ICC Trophy quarter-final, but Walker coped well against a more difficult opponent in South Africa and, as the incumbent, might well be preferred.

If Martin is chosen, he will probably share the new ball with Shayne O'Connor, who seems likely to retain his place on the basis of his experience and seniority, rather than any huge improvement in his one-day record. Bulfin or Mills might be also considered.

Scott Styris' place is in doubt, more because of his lack of recent match play than anything else, and if he is not considered fit enough, the selectors may look in the direction of Canning, an able all-rounder who toured England this year with New Zealand A.

That leaves a toss-up between a second spinner or another paceman as the 13th squad member, a question which might boil down to Wiseman, Mills, Bulfin, Canning or Franklin.

Possible squad: Stephen Fleming (captain), Chris Nevin, Nathan Astle, Roger Twose, Chris Cairns, Craig McMillan, Chris Harris, Adam Parore, Scott Styris, Shayne O'Connor, Chris Martin, Brooke Walker, Kyle Mills.