Surprise surprise

[Mr Kiwi]

A NZ cricket team is named and lo and behold... a new opener, and a new (kind of) bowler who specialises in bowling at the death.

Ryder's record backs up his place (one of the few first class bats with an average over 40) but he's done nothing this season, and Hitchcock, well...

Southee could be a good pick, though he's still pretty young - not playing the ODI's to go to the U19 world cup.

[sittingduck]

The full squads:

Twenty20 squad Daniel Vettori (capt), Peter Fulton, Paul Hitchcock, Jamie How, Chris Martin, Brendon McCullum (wk), Kyle Mills, Jacob Oram, Jesse Ryder, Tim Southee, Scott Styris, Ross Taylor.
ODI squad Daniel Vettori (capt), Peter Fulton, Paul Hitchcock, Jamie How, Chris Martin, Michael Mason, Brendon McCullum (wk), Kyle Mills, Jacob Oram, Jeetan Patel, Jesse Ryder, Scott Styris, Ross Taylor.

No Gillespie or O'Brien in either team (i'm happier abotu the second omission than the first). Also no Lou Vincent which is a little surprising. I'd like to see him take How's place in the 2020 side altough I'm not sure where he'd slot in in ODIs at the moment.

Southee was promising in the Bangladesh charity match before Xmas without being too fantastic. But he is still very green and exposure to this level of cricket can only be good for him. Good to see NZC looking to the future for once.

[Andy Mellon]

The Hitchcock selection is just plain bizarre. He's, frankly, crap. I'm not too sure what the selectors have seen in him which has convinced them that he's better than anyone let alone Gillespie or O'Brien.

[greg]

Well there are a couple of players there that i have never heard of so i look forward to seeing them in action.

[sittingduck]

Is Hitchcock even a first choice player for Auckland? I remember watching a 2020 game last week which he wasnt' playing in. He might have been injured but yeah it just seems weird.

I can't wait until James Franklin returns from injury but by then someone else will have broken down I guess.

[engssmoothcriminal]

Out of interest has Jesse Ryder sorted himself out (namely cut out the drinking and lost a couple of stone) after his less than glorious stint with Ireland last year?

[Navdeep]

Heard people comment on the omission of O'Brien (Yay!) and Gillespie..

Isint the later injured, along with Franklin? Pretty sure i heard he was

[Aurelius]

I can't wait until James Franklin returns from injury but by then someone else will have broken down I guess.

Franklin? Really? He's quite possibly the worst fast bowler in the major Test countries. Okay, so he may theoretically get into the Sri Lankan team, but certainly not Australia, Pakistan, England, South Africa, West Indies or anyone else. As for the minor countries, he could get into the Zimbabwe or Bangladesh teams, but he wouldn't be the best bowler.