KEY POINTS:
Today's dead ODI against Bangladesh is taking on the feel of a trip to a doddery aunt for a cup of tea and a chinwag - you know you have to do it, but you would rather fast forward to the big night out.
With New Zealand already
having won the series against modest opposition, the subplot of the naming of the first test squad tonight has assumed more significance.
And New Zealand coach John Bracewell was quick on his toes yesterday when pressed on the panel's progress towards settling on their 13 for the University Oval test debut in Dunedin, starting on Friday.
It would not be right for him to talk about the selection without the other three selectors - Sir Richard Hadlee, Glenn Turner and Dion Nash - in the room, he said. As they weren't he was keeping schtum.
"Consensus is about one voice and we'd all have to speak at the same time," he said, adding that the delay of 24 hours in naming the squad was to take another look at the opening round State Shield one-day competition.
"We'll put our heads together, and try to compare them. That's what selection is all about," he added.
"Some players have only been playing one-day cricket since November 18 [when the second test in South Africa ended]. Some guys have been playing domestic [four-day] cricket and we have to try and work out what's best in terms of selecting our test team."
Bracewell said it would be unfair not to give domestic players every chance of putting their hands up for selection. This was interesting, given the insistent drumbeats coming out of Auckland (for Andre Adams) and Wellington (Matthew Bell) for their test recalls after strong championship form, and hinted that both could yet have forced the selectors' hand in yesterday's round of games.
But if a couple of domestic one-dayers have a significant bearing on the selectors' test judgment, something's awry.
Yesterday Adams took 0-40 against Northern Districts at Eden Park; Bell scored 21 in 16 balls against Central Districts.
Bracewell, by accident or design, dropped a slight hint that Bell's prospects were stronger than Adams, who gave the coach a public bollocking this month over his treatment.
"He's got 700 runs. You'd be a fool not to talk about him," Bracewell said of Bell's outstanding championship form for Wellington before Christmas.
Asked what he'd bring to the New Zealand side, Bracewell replied: "Hopefully a large percentage of those 700 runs."
On Adams, Bracewell returned to the C word.
"I have no ill feeling towards Andre. Selection is by consensus. I select and give my opinion to the selection panel as I see fit. As a consensus group we haven't selected Andre in our last three groupings - and they've all been done by consensus."
As for today, put your shirt on the team winning the toss choosing to bowl.
With rain yesterday, the pitch should have freshened and the five ODIs played at the Queenstown Events Centre since its debut in January 2003, have all been won by the chasing team.
Central Districts' Michael Mason takes injured fast-medium Mark Gillespie's spot in the 12. Gillespie will undergo more tests on a shoulder injury today. Either Mason or offspinner Jeetan Patel could be dropped this morning.
* THIRD ONE DAYINTERNATIONAL
New Zealand v Bangladesh, Queenstown 11am today
New Zealand: Daniel Vettori (c), Brendon McCullum, Jamie How, Peter Fulton, Scott Styris, Ross Taylor, Jacob Oram, Mathew Sinclair, Kyle Mills, Michael Mason, Chris Martin, Jeetan Patel.
Bangladesh (from): Mohammad Ashraful (c), Tamim Iqbal, Zunaed Siddique, Aftab Ahmed, Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiq Rahim, Farhad Reza, Mashrafe Mortaza, Abdur Razzak, Shahadat Hossain, Javed Omar, Nazmul Hossain, Sajidul Islam, Rajin Saleh, Tushar Imran.
