I agree

I think Redmond just clinched the openers spot ahead of Todd Astle didn't he. I guess 12th man would be whoever didnt make it out of Scott and Elliot. We should probably run a quick poll on this.

I hadn't even thought of this, perhaps it is something to consider when choosing the last middle order player, but then we are in danger of going down the English road of picking a player whose the best captain but not the most desrving batsman.

One further note on Gillespie - he offers a bit more pace than most kiwi bowlers which counts in his favour and gives the seam attack a bit more diversity I feel.

Yes. I think it will be difficult to pick a player with first class captaincy experience as firstly there are only 6 domestic teams in the first place, and the majority of the captains are over 30. Wellington had Michael Parlane (over 30), Auckland had Jones (over 30), Northerns had one of the Marshalls (both over 5 caps), CD had Jamie How (over 5 caps).... not sure who Otago or Canterbury's captains were - probably Craig Cumming and Chris Harris respectively (both over 5 caps and 30!)

That means we'd probably have to look at club cricket for captaincy experience, and I'd guess most of our XI would have had some experience in that area.

Now, when Jamie How was playing for New Zealand in the test matches, Ross Taylor took over the captaincy of CD - NOT Peter Ingram:

http://www.blackcaps.co.nz/display.a...cid=5517&tpl=2

Hence, maybe we should choose Ross Taylor as captain??

So, that would leave us with:

1. Ingram
2. Redmond
3. Taylor (*)
4. Ryder
5. Nicol/Broom/Todd/Stewart/Hay/Robertson/Horsley
6. Hiini
7. Mills (+)
8. Elliot/Scott
9. Aldridge
10. Gillespie
11. Patel
Personally, for the middle order player, I'd be inclined to go for Rob Nicol - he's the one with the most experience and he's still only 23. He's had a great season with the bat as well, and his career record stacks up against his rivals.

Rob Nicol would be my vote too.

I don't have a problem with Hiini at 5 and Mills at 6 for one very good reason: this is an 'A' team and should be looking to showcase the most talented Test prospects... and there's no doubt in my mind that {a} Taylor, Ryder, Redmond (playing as opener) and Hiini stand head and shoulders above the best of the rest... and {b} that both Elliot AND Scott are more deserving of showcasing than the next best middle order bat.

We're not discussing these guys as bits-n-pieces compromises: Scott's figures knock Gillespie's into a cocked hat as a bowler (I'd take Scott over Gillespie without hesitation) and that Elliot is a sensationally promising no 6 with excellent batting (he averaged over 45 last season) and clear ability as a 1st change seamer.

Bottom line: a 6-7-8 that reads Elliot, Mills, Scott should be acceptable, especially as Aldridge is a solid no 9: it's certainly as solid as the England WAT 'A' line up of (from memory) Dalrymple, Rashid and Foster.

I'd go with Sittingduck's first offering:

1. Ingram
2. Redmond
3. Taylor
4. Ryder
5. Hiini
6. Mills / Elliot
7. Elliot / Mills
8. Scott
9. Aldridge
10. Gillespie
11. Patel

ps. Look more closely at the bowling returns folks: Aldridge showed that you don't have to leak runs like a cross between Sami and Mahood in order to have a decent strike rate... and Scott's figures are not just "a little" better - in Test cricket, Scott would be a bowler the captain could turn to with confidence... where Gillespie would end up kicking his heals in the outfield all day as Mahmood did in the Ashes because the captain thinks he's more likely to gift the game to the opposition than to win it for his own side.

Well, we basically have two teams to choose from, IMO:

The benefits of team one are the range and variety of the bowling options (4 mainline seamers, 1 mainline spinner, 2 very decent support seamers, 1 decent support spinner) whilst the batting does not suffer unduly with recognised batting down to 5, and players capable of scoring runs down to 8.

On the other hand, team two offers greater recognised batting depth, but only sacrifices 1 mainline seamer (who could be considered surplus to requirements in team one).

Frankly, Rachael either 6-7-8 is significantly better than the WAT England A team 6-7-8 in terms of batting. Obviously, the bowling does not compare - seam options vs spin options. Can't really compare that.

I would be fairly happy with either Team One or Team Two... however, our other selectors - Adamberry, Mr. Kiwi and Sittingduck (as well as interest from Navdeep and mismaiden) may disagree with these teams.

I will change the poll to be Team One, Team Two or Neither. If the vote goes to 'neither' we fall back on the position we were at before, namely:

1. Ingram
2. Redmond
3. Taylor (*)
4. Ryder
5. Nicol/Broom/Todd/Stewart/Hay/Robertson/Horsley
6. Hiini
7. Mills (+)
8. Elliot/Scott
9. Aldridge
10. Gillespie
11. Patel

Tidy way of managing the thread: let's hope the poll is decisive!

Discussion point: who of Elliot, Scott and Nicol is most / least likely to get a place in the Test squad in the next 3 years?

My impression from the discussion to date is that Nicol would DEFINITELY be behind Taylor, Ryder and Redmond (and perhaps behind a couple of players not eligible for this side)... meaning well down the list... but that Elliot and Scott would merely be competing between themselves to be a Test no 7/8 (and as such could find themselves next-in-line if an injury crisis promted changes).

This is a very reasonable question. Basically, in terms of Elliott and Scott, I would reckon either of them could quite easily displace James Franklin from the test side if Franklin continues to be erratic and/or continues suffering from migraines.

Now, with Nicol, he would definately be behind Taylor, and should be behind Ryder. However, there are question marks over Ryder's personality and whether his face would fit in the Black Caps. He is a player who could quite easily have a pedalo incident of his own. Rightly or wrongly, the choice of a new middle order player after Taylor would probably include a discussion of Ryder, Nicol and Redmond; and I wouldn't be too surprised if Nicol or Redmond were selected ahead of Ryder. The guy who's least likely to be picked at the moment would be Hiini, though that's not doubting his performances this year, its more his lack of experience.

VERY good point Racheal thank you for that.

In light of your last post I've decided to vote for a team without Nicol. Considering Bracewell's fascination with bringing back players like MacMillan (a success) and the Marshall twins (not such a success) I don't see Nicol making the team anytime soon.

There are also a number of top first class batsman who fall outside our criteria who would be further up the queue than Nicol.

TEAM ONE:
1. Peter Ingram (Central Districts)
2. Aaron Redmond (Otago)
3. Ross Taylor (*) (Central Districts)
4. Jesse Ryder (Wellington)
5. Brandon Hiini (Canterbury)
6. Grant Elliott (Wellington)
7. Stu Mills (+) (Wellington)
8. Bradley Scott (Otago)
9. Graeme Aldridge (Northern Districts)
10. Mark Gillespie (Wellington)
11. Jeetan Patel (Wellington)

12th Man: Rob Nicol (Otago)

Well, with four votes in and only three people left to vote (Mr. Kiwi, Navdeep and Mismaiden), Team One are in an unbeatable position; therefore the above team is announced as the World-A-Team New Zealand A Team 2006/7

The team blends experience (Ingram/Elliott) and youth (Ryder/Hiini); application (Ingram/Hiini) and devastation (Taylor/Ryder); explosive pace (Gillespie) and nagging accuracy (Aldridge) and included players from every one of the six domestic teams except Auckland.

The team includes several players appearing in the team for second year running (Taylor, Ryder, Aldridge, Patel) and for Graeme Aldridge, this will be his last year to represent the WAT NZ A Team. Taylor, Patel and Gillespie will be hoping for enough test caps in the next year to be ineligible for next year's version, whilst the rest of the team will be looking to get a chance to star in order to gain a place in the team within the next twelve months.

Congratulations to this year's selected 11, and also to Rob Nicol who only missed the cut by a matter of 'inches'

STOP PRESS:

Jesse Ryder signs for Ireland.

It'll be interesting to see how he goes in what will be a pretty 'backs-against-the-wall' campaign for the Irish in county cricket. His combination of medium-pacers and explosive batting should be a successful combination for them.

Watch this space!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/cric...es/6639039.stm