Cricket: Inexperienced test attack may struggle

By RICHARD BOOCK

PAARL - New Zealand will head into next week's first cricket test against South Africa with one of their most inexperienced bowling attacks, no matter which line-up is eventually selected.

Injuries to front-liners Chris Cairns, Daniel Vettori and Dion Nash have robbed the tourists of their most seasoned and successful bowlers.

And that raises the question of how they might go about dismissing the Proteas twice in order to win the series opener at Bloemfontein.

In stark contrast to South Africa's star-studded attack, New Zealand's most senior bowlers are now left-armer Shayne O'Connor and offspinner Paul Wiseman, who between them have played 26 tests, mostly in the shadow of more lofty reputations.

Of the remaining five bowlers in the squad, Daryl Tuffey has gained one cap and Kerry Walmsley two, while Scott Styris, Brooke Walker and Chris Martin are yet to make their test debuts.

Perhaps the most pressing concerns for the tour selectors as they ponder the first-class match against Boland starting today, involve finding a new-ball partner for O'Connor, making a decision about whether to include Styris, and how best to arrange the batting order so the tail does not stretch down to No 8.

The loss of Cairns has no doubt caused them plenty of headaches, not only because they will be without New Zealand's second most successful bowler, but also because they have lost one of their most accomplished batsmen.

It was not very long ago that New Zealand were almost embarrassed by the wealth of allrounders in the side, to the extent that Nash and Vettori were batting at No 9 and No 10 respectively, following after Cairns and Adam Parore.

However, not only have these tourists lost most of their firepower with the ball, but the replacements appear to be much less useful with the bat, which is likely to mean even greater responsibility and pressure on the top order when the test match rolls around.

With this in mind, Styris' chances of receiving the nod might have more to do with his run-scoring potential than his wicket-taking prowess, although whether he can measure up at test level in either role is yet to be seen.

As for the new-ball bowlers, O'Connor seems a certainty to start at one end, teaming up with either Tuffey or Walmsley, depending on how things go against Boland and the following tour match against North-West in Potchefstroom.

One would imagine that Tuffey, who has yet to play a game on this South African section of the tour, has the inside running as O'Connor's partner, but a strong performance from either Walmsley or Martin during the next week would almost certainly tempt the selectors, particularly after the disappointing effort of the bowlers in the shorter game.

On the other hand, they might opt to leave Styris out and play both Tuffey and Walmsley, while there is also a chance that they may include all their batsmen (allowing Hamish Marshall to make his test debut) and look to part-timers Nathan Astle and Craig McMillan to fill the third-seamer's role.