Personally, I don't think either McCullum or Astle should be opening. Trouble is, there's a bit of a dearth of opening talent around at the moment in NZ. Think of the main openers in NZ cricket - Michael Papps, Matthew Bell, Jamie How, Todd Astle etc. None of these guys are the sort of explosive opener that seems to be required in ODI cricket these days.

So, you try and crowbar a middle-order player into the openers slot. Personally, of the tried and trusted players, I'd play Lou Vincent. If he comes off, he can come off in a big way; he certainly has the big shots needed in ODI cricket. Now, for the other opener, we'd probably have to look to domestic cricket to provide an answer. Unfortunately, the only name I can come up with at the moment is Jesse Ryder. There are better technical players out there, but a lot of these are over the hill whereas blooding Ryder could pay off in the long run. Another guy from the middle orders who I've seen play a few shots is Flynn of Central Districts. Tough call though.