Mark Richardson: Opportunity lost to blood Taylor

New Zealand has missed an ideal opportunity to get the potential leading man suited up and on stage for the World Cup dress rehearsal that is next month's Champions Trophy.

Young Central Districts batsman Ross Taylor was all the talk last season and showed glimpses of what he was capable of when given a go against the West Indies. His form to gain selection late in the summer was based on some startling performances at A-list level but since then he has done little to consolidate a place in the Black Caps.

However, in every touring squad there is a place for a development player selected on potential - just ask Graham Henry - and Taylor fits that bill right now. It is a policy that has paid dividends, most notably with Lou Vincent and Hamish Marshall, and Taylor could pay out more consistently than them.

You must be careful when selecting players on potential rather than form, and mostly subscribe to the policy of selecting the best current players. The timing of this tournament, however, means there is a place for at least one more "potential" player.

The one player picked for development purposes is in the bowling department. Wellington seamer Mark Gillespie has potential to go with real aggression and probably gained his place over Taylor the batsman via circumstance.

Because of the large injury cloud over our attack, it made sense to select another bowler and let's hope for the sake of development Gillespie gets used. But the selectors should have looked five months ahead rather than so short-term and made batting the priority.

The World Cup will be won by batsmen. While the bowling at the top and bottom of an innings will need to be sharp, on small fields and slow, flat wickets, the successful teams will be those that don't stall through the middle of an innings against the slower bowlers.

In this phase of the game players need to be able to make their own pace on the ball, be good at hitting in front of the wicket and have the confidence to find the fence regularly. The accepted practice of working the ball round the field for ones and twos during the middle overs will be made redundant at this World Cup.

Taylor is one of few in this country with that ability. Another is Scott Styris who, ironically, might provide Taylor his opportunity.

Styris could be ruled out of the Champions Trophy because of the injury he picked up recently in county cricket. Taylor would seem to be the logical replacement and, if so, he must take that opportunity (although I believe both should be in the side).

Two specialist seamers and Daniel Vettori would be plenty of bowling and the remaining 20 overs should be made up through Oram, Astle, Styris and Taylor.

That's the balance needed in environments where the only relevant trade is in boundaries.