KEY POINTS:
The comings and goings in New Zealand cricket in the past few months offer the chance for a spot of crystal ball-gazing: what might our next World Cup squad look like?
The 10th edition of the tournament is being jointly hosted by India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh in 2011.
There's a pile of ODIs to wade through before then. But recent events suggest several names in that New Zealand squad have yet to dip their toes into the national side. That should change in the next year.
Already Tim Southee, Jesse Ryder and Daniel Flynn - aged 19, 23 and 22 respectively - have been brought into the Twenty20 squad and faced England this week. Ryder is in the ODI squad for at least the first three games against England.
Southee and Flynn's selections will have raised eyebrows for those used to their New Zealand players not getting called to the colours until their mid-20s.
But times are changing, with a pack of retirements in the past few months, plus the lure of the Indian Cricket League. Nathan Astle, Craig McMillan and Shane Bond have gone. Stephen Fleming is on his last lap.
The cup is three years away. This is the time to be checking the pulse of New Zealand's up-and-coming talent. The selectors might find lean pickings, but there are signs they are looking hard.
Several of the current squad should still be around for the Asian adventure, captain Daniel Vettori, key allrounder Jacob Oram, Brendon McCullum and Kyle Mills for starters, providing their health is good and their enthusiasm and commitment remains strong.
Scott Styris is gone from test cricket in a bid to lengthen his years in the one-day game. James Franklin is injured but will return. So might Lou Vincent. Ross Taylor represents the established one-day face of the younger brigade.
But what of the rest? Fast-medium pair Chris Martin and Iain O'Brien are already into their 30s. Michael Mason is in his late 20s and yet to prove he'll become a permanent fixture.
Offspinner Jeetan Patel is young enough, but there is a view he might not even be the best offie in New Zealand.
Picking teenagers is not something that comes easily to New Zealand selectors.
The country has had five 18-year-olds make their test debut - Vettori at 18 years 10 days was the youngest, against England at the Basin Reserve in February, 1997. The others were Giff Vivian (1931), Doug Freeman (1933), Richard Collinge (1965) and Brendon Bracewell (1978).
Thirty-one players made their debut before blowing out 18 candles - 13 of them Pakistani, seven Indian. The youngest of the lot is Pakistan's Hasan Raza at 14 years 227 days against Zimbabwe in 1996.
Raza gets the test-ODI double, holding the limited-overs record of 14 years 233 days. Vettori and Bracewell are the only New Zealand 18-year-olds to have played an ODI.
But Southee has an early claim to fame - only Bangladeshis Tamim Iqbal and Mushfiqur Rahim played their Twenty20 debut younger than Southee's 19 years 56 days at Eden Park last Tuesday night.
Those the selectors will at least be aware of - with the World Cup in mind, remember, not this season - might include:
BATSMEN
Kane Williamson (Northern Districts): The national under-19 captain for this month's youth World Cup in Malaysia. Made his first-class debut this season at 17. Well regarded.
Martin Guptill (Auckland): 21-year-old who is averaging 50.5 in the State Shield, and is fourth on the aggregates with 303 runs.
Neil Broom (Otago): 24, averages 35.12 in 33 one-dayers, 37.01 in first-class cricket. Talented but has been wayward.
BOWLERS
Hamish Bennett (Canterbury): 20, and a tall hard-working type from Timaru. Former national under-19 representative.
Richard Sherlock (Central Districts): who can be seriously sharp but fragile. Just back from some time in the Australian Capital Territory.
Greg Morgan (Auckland): Well rated in Auckland, a brisk 19-year-old, and in the national under-19 squad.
Corey Anderson (Canterbury): big talent, but just 17. In the national under-19 squad.
Leighton Burtt (Canterbury): 23 and has has taken 24 wickets in 12 one-dayers. Lively new-ball bowler.
Nathan McCullum (Otago): Brendon's offspinning brother who had a brief taste in a Twenty20 match in Durban last year. Will be 30 in 2011. Prime time for spinners.
ALLROUNDERS
Grant Elliott (Wellington): South African-born batsman who bowls. Tidy operator who was looked hard at last year. He's 28 but it's not just the young'uns the panel will be considering.
