Northland Cricket's chief selector has criticised New Zealand Cricket for taking James Marshall out of the Northland team to play Counties in Pukekohe this weekend.
Marshall, who is the Northern Districts captain as well as Northland skipper, has been summonsed to a first-class captains and spinners workshop in Christchurch this weekend.
The workshop, called at just 10 days' notice, has clashed with Northland's two-day Fergus Hickey Rosebowl match against Counties meaning Marshall cannot play.
Northland chief selector Des Thomsen said the conference should have been called during the week so the cricketers could get on with their job of playing cricket during the weekend.
"We would love to have James playing for us. When first-class players compete in these games it raises the standard of the players around them and it raises the standard of the game in general," Thomsen said.
"It makes players aware of the standards they need to achieve ... but we have got no control over what New Zealand Cricket does."
New Zealand Cricket high performance manager John Reid could not be contacted for comment yesterday.
However Northern Districts operations manager Pat Malcon had sympathy for Northland's plight, saying New Zealand Cricket's timing of the workshop was "unfortunate".
Bay of Plenty were also upset their key player Mathew Hart had been taken from their team to attend the workshop, Malcon said.
"I do the Fergus Hickey draws and you try to work around these things but you can't work around 10 days notice," he said.
Jamie Lee will captain Northland in Marshall's absence this weekend.
A further two changes have also been made to the Northland team that thrashed Waikato Valley in their first-round Fergus Hickey clash in Whangarei.
Spinner Cameron Bray, who is getting married, and all-rounder Michael Pinny, who is a wedding guest, are also unavailable.
The three replacement players are bowler Dan Robinson and batsmen Craig Anderson and Chris Harrison.
Joseph Yovich and David Pinny will lead Northland's bowling attack while Lee, Yovich and Alun Evans, who is averaging more than 100 runs per innings from his first two Northland games, will lead the batting.
Counties will be without Black Cap bowler Daryl Tuffey however former ND player Simon Andrews will open their bowling.
Northland captain Jamie Lee said: "Andrews is a bounce bowler and will be a challenge for our guys. Counties usually have solid bowlers but it's their batsmen we will look to exploit."
Northland beat Counties handsomely in the corresponding Fergus Hickey game in Whangarei last year.
Northland must get maximum points against Counties and hope Hamilton get no points against Bay of Plenty in Te Puke if they are to win the right for a Hawke Cup challenge later this season.
The other Fergus Hickey Rosebowl game this weekend pits Poverty Bay against Waikato Valley in Hamilton.
Points after the first round of Fergus Hickey matches are: Northland 10, Hamilton 10, Bay of Plenty 10, Counties 0, Poverty Bay 0, Waikato Valley 0.
Each team plays five matches during the season.
Meanwhile in Northland premier club games this weekend, a top-of-the table clash pits Kaipara against Onerahi at Kaipara. Other games sees City vs Kamo at Cobham Oval and Maungakaramea vs Whangarei Boys' High School at Maungakaramea.
Northland: Jamie Lee (c), Joseph Yovich, Alun evans, Shaun O'Brien, Mark Tulloch, David Pinny, Brad Chard, Neil Packiyarajah, Trent Sutton, Dan Robinson, Chris Harrison, Craig Anderson.
Counties: Simon Andrews, Todd McDonald, Robbie Dunning, Tim Hartland, Patrick Hartland, Richard Faust, Harry Chhagen, Scott Guthrie, John Morley, James Gibson, Dwayne Petley.
Cricket selector rues Marshall's summons
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