My problem with rotation is that there simply isn't enough time to make an informed decision about any of the possible combinations before the World Cup. Ryder and Guptill went well together, but it was chasing a tiny total against a second string attack. McCullum hasn't even had an opportunity yet to be tried down the order. Woodcock will be playing his first ODI, and the issue of where How will bat only muddies things further. How much can we really learn from one game, especially when the conditions in India are so markedly different to what's on offer here? And then there's the issue of Williamson and where he might bat should he be required. The selectors say he should bat in the middle, but if that's the case why has ND persisted with playing him at number 3?
The whole thing has the air of a panicking student madly cramming in the last 2 days before their final exam, after weeks of procrastination. Really we should've been working on a core group of players over at least the past 12 months, and testing different combinations over that time. I know things haven't been easy, we've had 4 coaches in the last 18 months afterall, but wildly scrambling about, trying every possible combination Wright and Vettori can think of doesn't strike me as the solution. At the very least, for the last 3 games of the series, they need to pick their starting World Cup side and stick with it. For better or for worse, we need our frontline team to get some gametime together.
I mean he scored 55 from 34 and was unlucky to have been caught by Shafiq.
