KEY POINTS:
The player most critics gave a Rove-style "What the!" reaction to when the 20 contracted names were announced by New Zealand Cricket was not surprised to get a deal.
Otago wicketkeeper Gareth Hopkins' inclusion in the group released this week made perfect sense to the player himself, if the selectors wanted a back-up wicketkeeper to first choice Brendon McCullum. He figured his form was solid enough and, at 30, with a wealth of domestic cricket behind him, he was the bloke for the job.
"Obviously I'm happy, but I wasn't really surprised. I thought I had a chance," Hopkins said from The Hague, where he's doing a stint of off-season club cricket. "I've been working quite hard towards this, and it's good to get a little bit of recognition."
The numbers explain why Hopkins fancied his chances, always assuming the national selectors wanted an extra wicketkeeper ahead of a busy year.
He hit 514 runs in the first-class season for Otago, with three hundreds, at an average of 85.66. His form has got progressively better in the last four seasons with the province, after one inaugural season at Northern Districts and five at Canterbury.
In 94 first-class games, he has hit 3866 runs at 30.68, with seven hundreds, and taken 249 catches. So no argument there. He played five ODIs for New Zealand in 2004 against England and the West Indies, so Hopkins has had a taste of the international game.
His cricket picked up a step when he went south from Canterbury for the 2003-04 season. It amounted to a straight switch with McCullum, who moved to Canterbury at the same time. Hopkins understandably called it "a no-brainer for me", and he came under the influence of national selector and former great Glenn Turner.
"I started to think a little more about my batting and worked on my concentration with my keeping, and there was the culture in Otago, which I liked," he said.
He'll be in Australia with New Zealand A later this month, then it's back to complete his contract with the HBS club in Holland before returning home in September.
He's yet to commit to Otago for next season. His wife, Bernadette, works in Auckland, so it's not an easy domestic situation. But Hopkins needs to get his thinking cap on smartly. Major associations need to know where players will be by the middle of this month.
The contract adds some certainty to Hopkins' situation. How much cricket he will play for New Zealand is the sticking point in the minds of those who doubt the merits of his place in the 20.
The selectors are keen to avoid wear and tear to McCullum, which is sensible for one of the world's best keepers. But, barring significant injury, how much action might Hopkins see?
Several of last years' contracted group were sighted as often as the pale-headed brush finch. There is a view the Hopkins choice is a wasted space, but the selectors' logic seems to be that they have enough batsmen and bowlers to cover all eventualities. Time will tell.
New Zealand's schedule for the next year has two trips to South Africa - the Twenty20 world championship and a test/ODI tour - the three Chappell-Hadlee ODIs in Australia in December; incoming test tours by England and Bangladesh; and a tour of England.
Cricketers are no different from any other sportsmen: they just want to play.
In the case of this squad, there's also the financial factor. Match fees top up the basic retainer. Put simply, more play equals more pay, and surrendering your spot does not come easily.
