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KEY POINTS:
New Zealand's selectors will look to continue the bedding down of a first choice ODI squad when their 12 for the opening three games against India is revealed today.
On certain aspects, their job is done for them. The top four batsmen will have been ticked with barely
a murmur round the table.
Brendon McCullum, who appears to have dialled back his dashing early-over tendencies, Jesse Ryder, Martin Guptill and Ross Taylor are a lock.
Then they have their middle order men: Grant Elliott, Neil Broom and Jacob Oram.
Elliott's form in Australia, plus his useful medium pacers, ensure he's in.
Broom has had his moments without having entirely set the world on fire. But he is worth continuing with on two counts: he adds quality in the field with a strong arm and alert movement, and he is a batsman who is an explosive hitter, as opposed to a bowler who can give it a clout late on, such as Kyle Mills or Ian Butler.
Oram, fit again, demonstrated in Christchurch on Wednesday night, that he is a must. He is expected to be bowling again when the ODIs start in Napier on Tuesday.
Not that it's absolutely relevant, but his captain wants him there, Dan Vettori having described Oram as the most important player in the squad.
Those three can also be rotated through the No's 5-7 spots depending on the state of the innings.
That leaves the bowlers, and the selectors - Glenn Turner, John Wright and Dion Nash - will have noticed that Nathan McCullum's offspin didn't exactly trouble the Indian batsmen in Christchurch.
Good Indian batsmen play offspin in their sleep. McCullum's first three balls to Yusuf Pathan disappeared into the crowd. The selectors are likely to figure that only one spinner is required, with the bulk of the work to be done by the fast-medium men, with backup from the likes of Elliott and Ryder.
Kyle Mills was playing for New Zealand Masters against Australia in the curtain-raiser to last night's second Twenty20 international in Wellington. Assuming he is fully recovered from his Achilles tendon strain suffered in Sydney 13 days ago, he will be in.
Tim Southee's form has fluctuated but he has been earmarked as one of the long-term key figures and should be there, along with Iain O'Brien, who is having a stellar international season.
In Australia, with just one ODI behind him last season, O'Brien took 10 wickets at 25.3 in five matches, grabbed another two in the Twenty20 international at Sydney and two more in Wednesday night's opener against India.
He is in good form, has Vettori's ear and is the most reliable of the fast-medium men right now.
That leaves one spot and Ian Butler is worth filling it. Back after four years in the wilderness, he did well in Sydney in the Twenty20 and backed up tidily in Christchurch this week. He is lively, steady and a late-order hitter.
Others include James Franklin, Brendon Diamanti and Scott Styris.
Since returning from his broken hand, suffered against the West Indies on Boxing Day, Styris has made 80 runs in five Twenty20 innings and 24 for the Emerging Players against England A on Thursday. That's not enough to warrant an immediate return, and, in any case, who deserves the axe to make room?
ODI SQUAD
Possible New Zealand squad for first three ODIs against India at Napier on Tuesday, in Wellington on Friday and at Christchurch next Sunday:
Dan Vettori (c), Jesse Ryder, Brendon McCullum, Martin Guptill, Ross Taylor, Grant Elliott, Neil Broom, Jacob Oram, Kyle Mills, Ian Butler, Tim Southee, Iain O'Brien.
