Test side
Daniel Vettori (captain), Brendon McCullum (vice-captain), Daniel Flynn, Peter Fulton, Gareth Hopkins, Jamie How, James Marshall, Chris Martin, Kyle Mills, Iain O'Brien, Jacob Oram, Jeetan Patel, Aaron Redmond, Tim Southee, Ross Taylor, Mark Gillespie or Michael Mason to be added.


One-day side
Daniel Vettori (captain), Brendon McCullum (vice-captain), Daniel Flynn, Mark Gillespie, Gareth Hopkins, Jamie How, Jacob Oram, Michael Mason, James Marshall, Kyle Mills, Jeetan Patel, Jeese Ryder, Scott Styris, Tim Southee, Ross Taylor.

Short term replacements for Indian Premier League players (until May 1): Michael Mason, Mark Gillespie, Grant Elliott.

Quite an inexperienced side, I just hope the new guys get a sustained run and aren't dropped as soon as they have two bad innings in a row.

Caps
80 - Vettori
40 - Martin
32 - McCulllum
27 - Oram
11 - Mills
9 - How
7 - Fulton
6 - O'Brien
5 - Taylor, Marshall
3 - Patel
2 - Gillespie
1 - Southee, Mason
0 - Flynn, Hopkins, Redmond

I thought Franklin would make the one day side as I had read that he has started bowling again after his operation. Surely he would be ready to play in June. We have Flintoff who has also just started bowling and he is looking to play in the 1st Test. Well Bell and Sinclair didn't make it in the end.

My prediction for the first Test is:

How
Marshall
Fulton
Taylor
Flynn
Oram
McCullum
Vettori
Mills
Southee/Patel
Martin

Which would make How the most experienced batsman with 9 caps (I think). I'll be interested to see how the New Zealand top-and-middle order cope.

Thats how i would line up for test 1, Southee ahead of Patel as he must be on a high after 5 wkts and a 50 on debut, plus the early season pitches in England suit seam more than spin, you have Vettori for that anyways.

One thing i learned this morning which shocked me (considering all this talk about IPL not interfering with intl cricket), is that Vettori, McCullum, Oram (and i think Mills and Taylor?) miss 2 of the 1st ODI's vs England?! Series will be over before they come back!

__________________
Hoggy Hoggy Hoggy...OI OI OI!!!

It's obvious that money comes before country. Pietersen saying it's unfair they can't play for the IPL but not long ago he was complaining that they were playing too much cricket. I can't believe that those NZ players are going to miss the two ODIs.

I can't see Patel playing any part in the 3 Tests early season.

Yeah, same goes for KP. Read that in his exclusive interview with The Times this morning that he is re-thinking all of this, and wants the ECC to allow all English players the chance to play in the IPL, and fit it around their intl games.

He claims it unfair that only the English are not taking part, which you knew would happen sooner or later. Who's really gonna turn down $1million for playing 6 weeks of cricket? 20-20 stuff too, and with all the mixed teams and old pro's taking part, its almost just a fun/joke tournament, where the guys will take it easy and just watch the dollars pile up.

I'm all for crowd pleasing entertainment, but i feel this is just the start of the demise in the international cricket scene, the real stuff which true fans care about. Test cricket is already frowned upon these days for being too slow and dull, now even the ODI stuff is being overlooked.

Lets hope dozens don't just flock to the IPL in a hurry, year after year. A country like NZ cant afford to lose senior pro's either.

__________________
Hoggy Hoggy Hoggy...OI OI OI!!!

I heard that they were only missing the first two tour matches, not the ODIs themselves.

You are correct sir, they must be in England by May 1 which means they miss the first two tour matches (I think a two day and a three day match) and are able to play two or three more IPL matches and therefore earning tens of thousands of extra dollars.

It's a decision which has been pretty uncontroversial in NZ which is a little surprising although I tend to support it.

That makes more sense, then.

Its what i originally heard, and i wasn't as bothered. Sure its a big blow and a loss to the team (could even cause personal rifts), but i was a tad more shocked when i know for a fact i heard 2 ODI's. Commo's got that 1 wrong then.

__________________
Hoggy Hoggy Hoggy...OI OI OI!!!