Cricket: Battle on for Black Caps places

Dylan Cleaver looks at five players who have helped their cause for selection to play Australia - and five who haven't


In the frame

CRAIG CUMMING: Nobody enjoyed seeing what happened to Cumming last season after first being picked as a sacrificial lamb-slash-opener on the one-day tour of Pakistan. After 10 ODI innings, all against Pakistan, he had 138 runs and an average of 15.

Everybody who knew Cumming knew how he wouldn't react.

There would be no histrionics, no cursing of the selectors for failing to recognise what every first-class player in the country knew and that he was twice the player in the longer form of the game than he was in the short.

Most knew that Cumming would strap on the pads for Otago this season and continue scoring runs. He's responded with two first-class centuries and has added another couple of 50s in the State Shield.

JEFF WILSON: Some people weren't happy that Wilson was selected for the festival matches against the World XI on the back of some decent, but hardly earth-shattering, domestic form.

But the Golden One has the ability to take a chance and he now looks to be in the box seat for a test spot.

With Jacob Oram's back problems and Chris Cairns' retirement leaving the selectors short of an explosive allrounder, Wilson fits the bill.

It's a cliche but statistics tell only part of the story. They have to when Wilson has a first-class batting average this season under 20 and a bowling average of 24.5. He has State Shield figures which are slightly worse in batting and slightly better in bowling. Wilson's strength is his ability to conjure something out of nothing.

LOU VINCENT: Forget his average of less than 10 in the State Shield, Vincent is back in business. He has been prolific.

He scored 49 on a dog-track at Hamilton, 90 in a low-scoring match against Canterbury, 185 not out against Central Districts and finished off Wellington with a timely 53 not out. All up he's scored 411 runs at 102.75.

He seems an ideal replacement for Nathan Astle in the test side, whenever that may be.

PAUL WISEMAN: It seems odd to describe Wiseman as just a fringe player because his is a much more modified role than that.

He is undoubtedly the No 1 off-spinner in the country, but his place in the national side depends on circumstances beyond his control - pitch conditions and the opposition's ability against a turning ball. Should anybody need reminding of his ability, he provided it with the jaw-dropping haul of 9-13 against Central last week.

JAMES FRANKLIN: After Franklin was chewed up and spat out by Justin Langer at the Adelaide Oval (0-120 off a combined 22 overs), it was touch and go whether he'd be back in the frame for the return series.

He's responded admirably with a wicket-haul of 20 in the Championship (behind only Kerry Walmsley's 21) at less than 14 runs a wicket.

Out of focus

MICHAEL PAPPS: Would have been a lock for an opener's spot, even before Mark Richardson retired, were it not for a first-class sequence that reads like this: 5, 4, 0, 3, 13, 0, 33. Nearly all his runs this season have come in colours, the form of the game he is supposedly not as well suited to.

Papps' international career got off to a promising start. He looked a compact, unflappable player. However, Papps has been prone to lengthy absences of form in the past. John Bracewell likes him, which could be his saving grace. But if he does play against Australia many will ask 'why?'.

TAMA CANNING: He began the season in a hurry after a nagging injury reduced his effectiveness last season.

A century in his first innings of the season has been followed by just 24 further first-class runs. He has an impressive 16 wickets at 17.4 in the State Championship and seven wickets in the State Shield, but there has to be question marks about whether his brand of medium pace would be effective at a higher level.

Where he may have hurt his chances was in his refreshingly honest assessment of a certain surprise Black Cap selection for the World XI series.

Most people approve of refreshing honesty, but selectors certainly don't.

IAN BUTLER: Unfortunately the paceman's most significant contribution this domestic season has been as the subject of a vicious email and helping guide his Northern Districts team through to an unlikely run-chase victory against Central in Napier. Sadly, Butler has been ineffectual with the ball, perhaps the result of some niggling injuries.

His one wicket has come at a cost of 141 runs. He'll need to do a lot more, and fast.

ROSS TAYLOR: The Central Districts tyro emerged as such a well-balanced, clean hitter of the ball last season it was hard to imagine he'd suffer the same hiccups that often beset players who burst on to the scene and then fade once bowlers find their weak points.

It looked, however, like Taylor might have been heading down that path before a hamstring injury took him out of action before the new year.

His comeback game on Friday yielded a golden duck.

JAMIE HOW: It's a tough job when you score three centuries and hurt your chances. However, circumstances have worked against How since his almost unprecedented burst of scoring at the start of the season.

How wouldn't have figured in international calculations at the beginning of the season, but three centuries in three innings (with 72 in the fourth) threw the spotlight on him. Since then he's scored 48 in four innings.

In the State Shield he has not been a major factor.

Perhaps his best chance of selection would be if the selectors factored in his off-spin bowling.

- HERALD ON SUNDAY