nzfan
International Vice-Captain
I'm all for young ones, absolutely. If they're good enough they should be in there particularly if it's a given they're going to play for NZ for good number of years. Wearing them out in domestic cricket for years definitely doesn't help. It's not that hard to pick that kind of players and they don't come in large numbers.There's two schools of thought on that. Wayne Bennett was a massive one for putting the team ahead of the player, and felt you had to be ruthless sometimes with guys who might have 'earned' the right to go on a bit longer but were taking a spot of someone who could contribute more or build experience/both.
I felt that way with Ross, although he vindicated the position with his knock in the WTC final. I felt he was holding Will Young out of the 4 spot (which he never took, but should've) but Young wouldn't have done what Ross did in that 4th innings.
As for the legends of the game I'd let them figure when to stop playing. Their experiences come in super handy in crucial games and keep them as long as they're fit enough to perform.
I have a problem with stop gap sort of players getting longer rope at the cost of the experienced and the good young players.