Cricket: Contenders looking to stake their claims for a black cap

The first round of the State Championship begins on Monday with more incentive than usual for its participants.

While the Black Caps have been a fairly stable unit over the past few years, there are signs some trusted favourites are beginning to fray around the edges.

With that in mind, here's five who will be looking to push their claims for higher honours this season.

1. Peter Fulton (Canterbury)
Two-metre Peter has long been in the eye of the selectors, whose only wish was that he developed more of a back-foot game to complement his powerful driving. Not that a good front-foot game is a curse. Sometimes the laws of physics take over. More often than not, tall = front-foot dominant, small = back-foot dominant. What you can't argue about is Fulton's appetite for runs. He averages a shade under 50 each bat and passes 50 every third visit to the crease. He led first-class run-scorers in 2003-04 with 655 and repeated the feat with 828 runs last season. In 2002-03 he added a triple century to his curriculum vitae. All he needs now is a test cap.

2. Graeme Aldridge (ND)
Made giant strides last season, particularly in the one-day game, and now needs to prove he can bowl as effectively in first-class cricket. He swings the ball at a lively pace, something that is always going to be effective on New Zealand wickets. He took 24 wickets at 24.9 apiece, which paled in comparison to his 30 State Shield wickets at 14.6. He got one 'test' against Sri Lanka A on the subcontinent this winter and, in a rain-affected match, could hardly have done more to impress, taking 4-29 when other seamers struggled.

3. Jamie How (CD)
New Zealand's issues at the top of the order in test cricket are no closer to being solved. Jamie How needs to complete a season like he started the last one and he'll have a chance. James Marshall, Craig Cumming and Michael Papps would appear to have a rails run but don't discount How overtaking them on the outside, particularly when you factor in a technique that looks tailor-made for the hard and fast wickets you expect at test level. He has an unflattering first-class average of 34 but this will improve. He scored 573 runs in the Championship last year at 47.8, disappointing given he started the season with 105, 108no, 121 and 72. Had his struggles in Sri Lanka, as did most of the top three, but finished with a decent half-century.

4. Jesse Ryder (Wellington)
The most consistent batsman of the winter in Brisbane with the emerging players and in Sri Lanka with New Zealand A, Ryder just needs to prove he can sustain excellence over the course of a season. He has a good first-class average of 44.5 but his ratio of one century every 14.5 innings is too low for someone of his talent. He scored 625 runs last season, including a career-high 236. Ryder has the added string of being a very useful bowler, as his first-class average of 19.5 runs a wicket testifies.

5. Kerry Walmsley (Auckland)
At 32 the Auckland fast bowler realises that if he is to resurrect his test career, it needs to happen in a hurry. But if the selectors were going to be pragmatic they would do far worse than look back to Walmsley, who first played during New Zealand Cricket's farcical centenary season of 1994-95 and last played on the 2000 tour to South Africa. He has taken plenty of first-class wickets (230) at a healthy average (25.5), with a rate of a wicket every six-and-a-half overs. He doesn't take a lot of stick so can play strike and stock bowling roles. His 38 first-class wickets last season led the State Championship. It will be interesting to see how he and Chris Martin work together in tandem for the Auks.


First round matches: Canterbury vs Wellington, QEII Park, Christchurch; Central Districts vs Auckland, McLean Park, Napier; Northern Districts vs Otago, Harry Barker Reserve, Gisborne.

- HERALD ON SUNDAY