KEY POINTS:
Jamie How's return to the New Zealand test side is imminent after his selection as captain of an invitation side to play England in a three-day cricket game starting in Dunedin on Thursday.
How and Ross Taylor appear to have the most to gain from the tourists' second
and final pre-test series hit-out at University Oval.
The Central Districts pair are in contention to reprise their short test careers in Hamilton from March 5, should they impress the selectors against what should be a full-strength English line-up.
How's impressive form in the one-day series, in which he scored 201 runs at 50.25 including a career-best 139 at Napier, is likely to see incumbent opener Craig Cumming miss out.
Cumming was unavailable for the invitation side due to his Otago State Shield commitments.
Jesse Ryder's self-inflicted hand injury after the ODI finale in Christchurch on Saturday night has removed one contender from the middle order permutations.
Ryder was a possibility after his startling ODI form but is now out for a minimum of three months after undergoing surgery in Christchurch yesterday.
How played the last of his six tests against Sri Lanka in Wellington in December 2006 and although his form against the English has been impressive, he averages just 14.55 after 10 test innings.
Taylor made his test debut in South Africa last November, a sequence of four brief cameos when time at the crease was the prerequisite.
The selection panel have persevered with Peter Fulton, who made a morale-boosting 66 for Canterbury in yesterday's State Shield semifinal, despite the incumbent test first drop failing to reach double figures in five innings against the tourists in the Twenty20 and ODI formats.
Wellington teammates Iain O'Brien and Mark Gillespie are vying for the third seamer's berth behind Chris Martin and Kyle Mills when the team is finalised for the first test later this week.
They are making their first impressions against the tourists for an Otago Selection 11 in a two-day game on the oval which began today. Incumbent test opener Matthew Bell, Mathew Sinclair and Fulton are also doubling up.
Otago were originally scheduled to play the three-day first class match but after they made the domestic one-day final in Auckland on Sunday, New Zealand Cricket has assembled a makeshift team that ironically gives their test batsmen a decent look at the likes of recent England arrivals Matthew Hoggard, Steve Harmison and Monty Panesar.
New Zealand selection
Jamie How (captain), Matthew Bell, Peter Fulton, Ross Taylor, Mathew Sinclair, Grant Elliot, Bevan Griggs, Jeetan Patel, Mark Gillespie, Iain O'Brien.
- NZPA