With the Black Caps in dire straits over batting, Central Districts batsman Mathew Sinclair believes the selectors have a choice between youth or going with players with a proven track record at domestic level cricket.
``It's an important test match [starting on Friday at McLean Park, Napier] and we obviously want
to win it so I suppose it's in the hands of the selectors,'' Sinclair told SportToday this morning before New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori, Mark Greatbatch, of Napier, and convener of selectors Glenn Turner were today releasing the changes to a batting line-up showing frailty after Pakistan's 141-run victory yesterday in Wellington before the Caps arrive in Napier tomorrow.
``I'm sure there's others out there who are also deserving of a call-up too,'' said Sinclair, who preferred to leave the matter to the selectors.
He was instrumental in helping the CD Stags thump Canterbury by 10 wickets with a day to spare to notch their first win in a Plunket Shield four-day match at Rangiora on Saturday.
Asked to follow on yesterday, Canterbury, who resumed their second dig at 38 for two on Saturday morning, were bowled out for 180, a lead of 26.
CD openers Peter Ingram, 16 not out, and Jamie How, 10 not out, needed a mere 3.5 overs to harvest the required 27 runs.
It was a complete victory for CD as How contributed 90 runs and Sinclair 50 in their first-innings total of 325 as Turner watched.
Sinclair was outstanding. On top of his batting, he grabbed career-best bowling figures of 3-29 in Canterbury's first innings and added another on Saturday.
With the first one-dayer starting at Rangiora tomorrow, Sinclair said they were boosted on paper with the return of Black Cap Jacob Oram and Brendon Diamanti.
``It's a huge change from the four-day match so the team which adapts will do well,'' he said, claiming the Stags had a psychological hold on the hosts.
CD had learned from a sluggish start to the season, starting from their loss to the Northern Districts in Whangarei last month and were building on that confidence in one-dayers.
