Logic should always be the dominant principle used in the selection game.
Only that quality rarely seems to apply whenever the Craig McMillan case comes up.
No one could say sentiment is a player with his continued retention either, which means it must simply come down to faith - misplaced as it is - or more accurately hope.
In other words, if he's kept on long enough sooner or later he'll deliver something. The problem is enduring all the troughs along the way before there is a tangible score, or a promising innings he doesn't strangle with some witless act.
Early in New Zealand's so far depressing tour of England, McMillan churlishly - as usual - demanded everyone should get off his case as he blundered along. He followed up an 80-odd against Leicestershire with a far from healthy double in the heavy defeat by Kent in the final match before the first test.
And then the first test - well, let's not go there. Don't innings of 6 and 0 say enough?
He not unnaturally helped himself to some runs against soft opposition (Northamptonshire) after the Lord's test, only a broken finger forced him out of the second test at Headingley.
Restored for the Trent Bridge test, McMillan also reacquainted himself with a familiar round, single digit score in the first innings and the dizzying heights of 30 in the second of yet another defeat. When it was all over, only two batsmen - Kyle Mills and Chris Martin (of course) - sat below McMillan (9.00) in the test averages.
Despite the poor effort, his career test average is still slightly above 40.00 (40.07) but now the concerns are with his one-day game, where his average is decidedly ordinary for a player of his natural ability (sometimes). Here the figure reads just 27.04 after 147 matches.
McMillan's law suggests he's likely to provide an innings of reasonable substance some time soon, possibly in New Zealand's next outing in the NatWest series against England at Riverside early tomorrow (Wednesday). Then again, chances are he'll have no special difficulty finding an irritating way to dismiss himself for not many. That's the way it is in McMillan's world.
But after the way the test series unfolded, the question in McMillan's case might well be asked: Why bother with him at all in this NatWest series? Let him go to stew again and come back a (hopefully) better player, or not at all.
It's not as though this New Zealand team doesn't have some options. After all, Michael Papps did a fine job opening in the one-dayers at home against South Africa - 204 runs at 51.00 - and, logically, his partnership with Stephen Fleming might have been used again. Logically, that is. The fit-again Nathan Astle could have shifted down to No 5 with McMillan taking a rest (mercifully).
Or Astle could have stayed in tandem with Fleming and Chris Harris could have retained his spot in the middle order. The accent there is on the word "retained". Harris, along with Papps, was there at the end of the Black Caps' series when they brushed South Africa 5-1. Harris played in the last two wins, man of the match in one and scoring at very close to a run a ball in his two innings. He's a far more consistent and reliable one-day batsman than McMillan, an infinitely better fieldsman and he can still play a role as a bowler in the right conditions.
But that's all much too logical and logic hasn't been too closely observed on this tour, certainly not in the selection area.
Instead McMillan is still there and overdue yet again to repay the selectors for the faith/hope placed in him. Logically, he'll find a way to trip up, or will he? Maybe everyone should just get off his case. Yeah, right.
