KEY POINTS:
The time has come for Scott Styris to give away the bowling. Styris, having only recently regained his fitness following a niggly back complaint, has now lost it again due to a calf strain and could miss the Tri-series.
Whether his bowling is solely responsible for these injuries
or not, it increases the likelihood of injury. Styris's bowling is a luxury but not a necessity - unlike his batting, which is indispensable. Via rumour I had heard he was unlikely to rejoin the Black Caps until he had proven his fitness and that included bowling fitness, which is ridiculous.
Styris is the best No 4 batsman in the country and, when in form, our most rounded ODI batsman. Sure, his career record does not say 'great' having averaged 29 over 118 games.
However, for some time he played in the lower-middle order and given more opportunity further up, he has impressed.
Over the past couple of years he has averaged well into the mid-30s - and in our team that qualifies you very comfortably as a batsman.
Styris is no yes-man. He is his own person. He is driven, competitive (at times within the team) and highly opinionated.
It has appeared over the past few seasons that John Bracewell's man-management style for Styris has been to try to keep him under control in the lower-middle and make him fight to take his rightful place at No 4. He seems to be the first player shuffled down to make way for top-order experimentation and, if true, the decision to make him prove bowling fitness before re-selection seemed another method to keep the thumb firmly on Styris.
However, right now it is all academic. Styris will not be at the tri-series and supporters of his game must wait in hope that he is ready for the World Cup. To ensure this I say focus his rehabilitation on getting the body for batting.
While Styris could be making a bigger impact with the bat - at least when fit - he is at least in the team. The same can't be said for Michael Papps, who now cannot even make a 30-man World Cup squad in times when indecision, poor form and questionable competence hang over the top order.
Papps has had his fair share of injury but concussion seems to be the black mark on his record book. When Brett Lee stunned him like a mullet, it heralded the immediate end of his ODI career. Yet, at the time, he had a six-game average of 51.75. His 'list A' (for all intents and purposes, domestic limited overs games) record currently reads 75 games for an average of 37.9, including five centuries.
Simply put, he can play the shorter form of the game. While his ODI strike rate is a little low - at 60 runs per 100 balls - and he doesn't fall into the modern strike-rate-generating opener's mould he at least provides the option of the anchor.
Surely, when it comes to our current team with its form fluctuation and injury record of late, a few options would not go astray.