Franklin is familiar with facing the new ball in English conditions, it offers him more purpose than he has in the current line-up and gives New Zealand a pesky left-hand/right-hand combination if he joins Martin Guptill.
In the four ODI matches in England before tonight, Franklin had spent minimal time at the crease and has taken no wickets for 93 from 13 overs of bowling.
Former coach John Wright first flirted with the idea of Franklin opening in limited overs but he has ended up doing it only twice at international level, both last year in T20s when he made 60 from 37 balls against Zimbabwe and 35 from 36 against Bangladesh.
Surely it's an option worth investigating. Coach Mike Hesson has already indicated Franklin is the squad's back-up opener.
Evidence from 2010 might swing the decision in Franklin's favour. On the New Zealand periphery after a number of injury-hampered seasons, he indulged in a solid summer of county cricket under John Bracewell at Gloucestershire.
Franklin produced an excellent return opening or at first-drop. In the 40-over competition, he averaged 73 - making a couple of hundreds and fifties with a strike rate of 92.
In the T20 matches, he averaged 39.16 but stepped the strike rate up to 130. A highlight was an aggressive 90 from 50 balls against Sussex when he was described as "not once slogging'' by Cricinfo. It did not stop him denting a car with one of his three sixes; the last of which broke his bat.
Similarly for Essex last season, he faced the new ball in the majority of his 10 T20 innings. He averaged 27.55 with a top score of 78 and a strike rate of 111.
Pushing him up the order could be a tweak which enables New Zealand to hum at full capacity.
