The selectors headaches?

The New Zealand cricket selectors may be having a few sleepless nights in the near future as the contracts come up for renewal in just one more month. I look at the
probables, the possibles and those who are I think now are out of the picture.

Last seasons contracts:
Vincent, Vettori, Tuffey, Styris, Sinclair, Richardson, Oram, Nevin, Martin, Mcmillan, Horne, Hitchcock, Hart, Harris, Fleming, Cairns, Butler, Bond, Astle, Adams.

Lou Vincent must be one of the players worried about his pay check being cut . Since his exciting debut in Australia he has never really showed consistency in the one day or test match game. Yes, his fielding is great but you do need to be more than a fielder to play international cricket. Jesse Ryder and Rob Nicol are consistently scoring runs for their State teams in the middle order and they must be running through the selectors minds.

There is daylight between Daniel Vettori and the next best New Zealand spinner so he will be one of the first names on the paper. The main problem for the selectors is who will partner him.

Daryl Tuffey has had every bowlers dream season. The National Bank cricketer of the year missed out on most of the world cup but his great NZ season sees him sure to lead our opening attack into the New Season. You would almost have him there just to bowl the first over with his impressive list of first over dismissals.

Scott Styris has matured greatly. He is now performing consistently with the bat in NZ's shaky middle order. With a test century on Debut and a great knock of 140 in the world cup he is now being seen as a batter rather than the bowler who could bat a little. He will be there.

Mathew Sinclair must have had enough chances now. It will take huge turn around if he is to stop Ryder or Nicol grabing his spot. New Cap Richard Jones also proves a threat to Sinclair as does Craig Cumming. But then Mathew does still have an impressive test average of 40.62 with 2 double centuries beside his name.

Mark Richardson is one of the most gritty players around. He has not had alot of chances to impress in the last 12 months with so few tests being played. But every chance he has had, he has taken. Mark's average just seems to keep climbing with it now being 48.38 after 23 tests. Not bad for the guy who began first class cricket as a spinner who batted at 10.

Jacob Oram is still a little bit of an 'unknown' guy when it comes to test cricket. But he has done enough in the One Day game with some on the spot bowling and hard hitting
batting. I can't see anyone pushing him out.

I think that Chris Nevin's international cricket days are over. He has been included to go to Sri Lanka but I think Brendon McCullam will be preferred with the gloves for the
ODI's and with Michael Papps knocking on the door, I think it is time to say goodbye to Chris.

Chris Martin has not been standing out in domestic cricket and has not been near the international scene for the last 12 months. Kyle Mills was preferred in one day cricket
and Michael Mason in the tests. One of these two could be in for a pay rise now that Shane O'Connor has retired.

Craig McMillan has had the worst year of his life cricketing wise. But I think he is too classy to be out of the picture. He will be back to his best next season and I'm sure the selectors will show that faith in him.

Matt Horne was probably taken over to Sri Lanka as a stop gap. Tim McIntosh must certainly be in the top 20 players in the country and it seems that Horne faces an uphill
battle to save his title of a 'contracted' player. The second test seems to be Matt's last chance to impress.

Paul Hitchcock was a suprise in the contracted players last year and he hasn't played an international match since. Well, I still see a great player but maybe his Wellington team mate Matthew Walker will get the nod. Matthew had an impressive domestic season and it only seems time until he get a chance to play debut.

Robbie Hart has not done anything wrong. While his keeping has not been outstanding it has been solid and he has scored runs. It seem that McCullam or Papps may take over in
the future but Hart deserves another contract.

Chris Harris has for a long time saved NZ from defeat. Slowly he seems to be disappearing off the international scene. While he hasn't been in blistering form, I can't
see the selectors looking much further. He is reliable, and gets the job done. What more do they need. Maybe Kyle Mills is pushing him a little but 'Harry' will be there.

Stephen Fleming is one of the best things that has ever happened to the Black Caps. He is maturing with age and just seems to get better and better with both the captaincy and his batting. His double century in the first test was great. He deserved it and showed that his team always comes first when he declared in sight of the big 300 and many NZ records.

Chris Cairns has had a rough time with injuries and the question most people are asking is 'How much more has he got left in him?'. This guy is a world class cricketer and there are no questions that he will be there.

Ian Butler has not been required to play international cricket in the last 12 months but after recovering from injury, he had a good domestic season. Wouldn't we love to see the pace of both Bond and Butler firing down deliveries in the same team while they are both in form. The time is coming because Butler is not going anywhere for quite a while.

Shane Bond. What more can I say? A bowler many are rating as one of the best to ever come out of New Zealand and certainly no-one is threatening his position.

Nathan Astle's life has been full of ups and downs, but still he is in a class of his own. Injuries have made life hard for him, but he is a match winner and one of our few world class batsmen.

Andre Adams has had the injury problems. He has scored the runs, taken the wickets but his bowling is expensive and with so many allrounders in the NZ cricket scene at the moment, his position may be threatened. Auckland bowler of the year Tama Canning is probably the top contender.

So my contracted players for the 2003/2004 season are as follows:

Tama Canning(Auckland), Nathan Astle(Canterbury), Shane Bond (Canterbury), Ian Butler (Northern Districts), Chris Cairns(Canterbury), Stephan Fleming(Wellington), Chris Harris(Canterbury), Robbie Hart(Northern Districts), Matthew Walker(Wellington), Tim McIntosh(Auckland), Craig McMillan(Canterbury), Michael Mason(Central Districts), Brendon McCullam(Otago), Jacob Oram(Central Districts), Mark Richardson(Auckland), Richard Jones(Wellington), Scott Styris(Northern Districts), Daryl Tuffey(Northern Districts), Daniel Vettori(Northern Districts), Jesse
Ryder(Central Districts).

But after all it is a wait and see situation. My thoughts aren't the thoughts that Matter. Only the selectors will know who is in the running. You and I can only guess.



Posted by Tamara