Cricket: Casting about for a few ideas

Dropping a middle-order batsman and moving Jamie How into the top order is one option for the Black Caps. Picture / Brett Phibbs

It would be a brave man who would bet on New Zealand carrying the same batting line-up into the second test against South Africa, starting in Cape Town on Thursday.

Having watched the top-order saved by the tail in the first innings at Centurion and then routed for 120 in the second, possibly the most outrageous option available to the tour selectors is to back-up with the same combination.

Flawed from the start by poor selection, the tourists appeared to pay the ultimate price for preferring makeshift openers over their two specialists and for the woolly headed idea of thrusting usual No 10 Kyle Mills into first-drop.

Quite how Michael Papps, Jamie How, Lou Vincent and Mathew Sinclair - to name a few - felt about the latest experiment is anyone's guess, but the stark facts of the matter are that it proved an abysmal failure.

New Zealand crashed to five for 45 and six for 89 in the first innings before being rescued by Jake Oram and Daniel Vettori, and then plumbed new depths in the second - losing their first six wickets for a scarcely believable 28 runs.

The immediate challenge for New Zealand now is to leave the theory behind them as they head south and to get back to the basics of using specialist batsmen in specialist positions and picking on form rather than hunches.

The way things are shaping, John Bracewell's side have four main selection options available to them as they approach the second test, all but one of which involves a difficult decision on an incumbent.

The first option is to leave the line-up unchanged, possibly in the belief that a show of faith from the selectors could engender confidence in the batsmen and that to change everything after one failure would be premature.

But this is the thinking of the truly desperate. Having been savaged beyond recognition by the South African pace bowlers this week, the New Zealand top-order - as it stands - is in no shape to bounce back in the second test and is in dire need of a re-jig in the 1, 2, and 3 positions.

You also have to take into account the psychological hold that the South African attack have claimed over the New Zealanders and the clear advantage they'd carry if they were to come up against the same faces next week.

Which brings us to the second option; the possibility of dropping a middle-order batsman such as Scott Styris or Nathan Astle to move Peter Fulton back to No 3 and create room at the top for either Papps or How.

The problem with this scenario is that both Astle and Styris have far superior records to any of the top three candidates and can both lend a hand at the bowling crease when required.

Each took a valuable wicket at Centurion: Astle sending back dangerous tail-ender Nicky Boje in the first innings and Styris removing star batsman Jacques Kallis in the second.

Another option is to drop Marshall and/or Fulton for How and/or Papps, a move that would leave the remainder of the line-up intact, from Stephen Fleming at No 3 to Oram at No 6.

But supporters of Marshall and Fulton will point out that the pair - although both dismissed cheaply at Centurion - showed glimpses of promise during that turbulent experience, the latter batting tenaciously in the first innings and the former showing courage in the second.

Probably the least talked about option is dropping a bowler at Newlands (either Mills, James Franklin or Chris Martin) and shunting Oram down to No 7 in order to create room for another batsman at the top or in the middle-order.

Oram's bowling was steady in the first test, and he showed little sign of any discomfort on his return from injury, raising the possibility of him being employed as a third-seamer.

However, that would also come with its complications as the big all-rounder has historically struggled to remain fit when used as a front-line bowler and has also tended to run out of partners on the occasions he's batted at No 7.

Just how the selectors will see it, however, remains something of a mystery, particularly after a succession of experiments throughout the season.

The only certainty is that all will be revealed on Thursday evening.