Vincent Devastated by Exclusion

Despite reports that he had told the New Zealand selectors that he would refuse to open the batting in the test side, Lou Vincent, in his first media appearance since his surprising exclusion from the test team, made it clear that he gave no such ultimatum.

Although he would prefer to bat in the middle order, Vincent said he would have been happy to be in the New Zealand side in any position, and that the news of his dumping had been hard to take. This was evident as he seemed quite emotional and was at times having difficulty in being more outspoken about how he felt about the situation, in case doing so could endanger his future prospects even more.

Vincent had a highly successful 2005 since moving down to the middle order in tests, averaging in the high 40s including a career-best 224 against Sri Lanka in April.

The New Zealand team, without Vincent, go in as favourites to win the first test, starting at Eden Park in Auckland on Thursday.