By Richard Boock
New Zealand's World Cup cricket squad may face some changes before the following four-test tour of England.
The national cricket selectors reserve the right to fine-tune the touring party at the end of the World Cup - which is being staged in Britain - so they cover all contingencies during the test series.
New Zealand Cricket's operations manager John Reid said yesterday that it was still unclear whether any changes would be required to the 15-man, one-day squad, but that the opportunity needed to be available.
The World Cup begins at Lord's on May 14 with the final set down for June 19, while the test series stretches from early July to August 23.
"At present, we're exploring ways of maintaining the match form of some of our non-World Cup players during that period," Reid said. "But, by the same token we're only retaining the right to make changes - there's no guarantee that we will.
"Ideally, the players who fall into this category should be playing cricket, and it would be fairly convenient for us if they were playing in England."
Reid said NZC would attempt to connect any relevant players with English counties, although he said with overseas player restrictions, this was now far more difficult than it used to be.
"The important thing is that we need them to be playing quality cricket. If they were just going to be playing in lower-class league stuff, I'd rather have them back here in Christchurch working at the High Performance Centre."
Meanwhile, veteran all-rounder Steve Elworthy has been called into the South African squad for the seven-week-long tour of New Zealand, which starts next week.
The 33-year-old, who made his test debut against England at Nottingham last year, replaces paceman David Terbrugge, who limped out of the tour (not to mention the one-day series against the West Indies) with an ankle injury.
South Africa arrive in Christchurch on Thursday and will play three tests and six one-day internationals against New Zealand.
Cricket: Tests may require changes in squad
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