Cricket: England trip gives coach fresh insight on players

Bob Carter. Photo / Getty Images

Seeing the second tier of New Zealand players in testing conditions was among the big benefits of the New Zealand A tour of England, according to coach Bob Carter.

The squad included several players who have had test or limited-overs international experience. The trip, which included a tri-series against their English and Sri Lankan equivalents, provided a wealth of information for Carter to sift through with national coach Mike Hesson and his fellow selector Bruce Edgar.

"You want to try and establish a work ethic and culture and we tried to follow what the Black Caps do regarding training," Carter said.

"The players were put under a fair bit of heat in training sessions because then you take a method out on to the field. I think it worked well."

Carter singled out former test batsman Dean Brownlie, who scored two limited-over hundreds on the tour, and test openers Hamish Rutherford and Tom Latham as having impressed with the bat; Matt Henry, Scott Kuggeleijn and Hamish Bennett stood out with the ball.

Brownlie, who scored a test century in Cape Town in early 2012, was dropped from the test side last year but is moving to Northern Districts from Canterbury to reinvent himself at the top of the order.

"That was a brave move and he certainly stepped up," Carter said. "We know he's a good player and he has got himself back in the frame with how he's played."

After touring Sri Lanka and India last year, Carter is keen to push for more A tours.

He is going to Loughborough University to meet England's high performance staff next week. That will be among the topics discussed.

"They were impressed with the level of team we brought," Carter said. "They're saying they'd love to come back to New Zealand and have us back again.

"You learn so much about players when they're in the heat of battle in this environment. New Zealand Cricket have come up with a couple of good tours [in the last year] and it's important we keep this going."