KEY POINTS:
They might have enjoyed a measure of success the other day, but New Zealand pace bowlers Chris Martin and James Franklin feel they still have a point to prove to the selectors.
The pair, who played a central role in New Zealand's bright start to the test against
Sri Lanka at Christchurch this week, went into the match with a question mark over their roles but lost no time in boosting their stocks.
Martin became the 11th New Zealand bowler to take 100 test wickets after sending back Sri Lankan wicket-keeper Prasanna Jayawardene, and Franklin made three vital strikes in the middle of the innings to maintain his team's early momentum.
With team-mates Shane Bond and Jacob Oram they combined to deliver one of the best bowling performances from a New Zealand outfit for at least two or three years, resulting in the Sri Lankans being bowled out for 154 in just over 52 overs.
For Martin, the 100-wicket milestone provided an opportunity to tell the waiting media that he was far from happy with being pigeon-holed as a test specialist and that he still hoped to break back into the one-day squad for the World Cup.
"There's still a chance for me in terms of the one-dayers," he said.
"I know there's a hell of a lot of games coming up and the selectors are probably going to have to rest players at certain stages, so I'm hopeful.
"I'd imagine they'd want to have at least one strike bowler waiting in the wings just in case something happens, so I haven't written off the World Cup yet. It'll probably be the last one that I'll have a chance to play in."
Martin, who turns 32 tomorrow, made his test debut on the injury-hit tour of South Africa in 2000 and has since been cast mainly as a five-day specialist, possibly because of his limitations in the field and with the bat.
But he has proved one of New Zealand's most effective and durable pace bowlers since the start of the millennium, and drew attention during the second test against South Africa at Auckland in 2004.
He took six wickets in the first innings and five in the second to set the scene for New Zealand's first win over South Africa on home soil.
"It's nice to get in that 100-wicket club because there's so few New Zealanders who have made it that far," Martin said.
As for Franklin, the left-armer must have felt a tad bemused to be named as a potential twelfth-man for the Sri Lankan test, after he had proved New Zealand's highest wicket-taker last season and was the team's best bowler on the tour of South Africa.
Franklin conceded that he'd made a slow start in domestic cricket this season but denied he felt under pressure to keep his place, saying he was always confident of raising the bar once the test match started.
"I just think it's a case of trusting myself and keeping up the work-rate.
"I'm a rhythm bowler, I can never rest on my laurels. By my own admission I probably didn't bowl as well as I would have liked at the Champions Trophy and the Wellington weather didn't allow me to train much, so I was little bit under-prepared coming into the season.
"But if I can maintain this upward trend, that can only be a good thing."
One slight difference was a change in his run-up. The slightly angled one is now much straighter.
"My tendency is to fall over a bit when I'm bowling," said Franklin, "so I'm just trying to get the alignment of my run-up and delivery together to keep myself upright."