I decided to look a bit closer at the stats for the state championship this season, only took a quick glance to get the figures for my initial selection.

So i've been trolling the NZ cricket website while watching the first ODI from Wellington and here's the batting stats for the eligible batsman who have scored more than 200 runs this season.

Bowling stats to follow later today.

Bowling stats, eligible players with more than 10 wickets this season.

I'm possibly repeating myself a bit here from the earlier post but this is a bit more of a considered opinion after looking at the season's stats a bit closer.

As far as this season's performances so far are concerned I think our openers should be two out of Tim McIntosh, Peter Ingram and Aaron Redmond.

Middle order is a little congested with (in no particular order) Ryder, Taylor, Hay, Todd and Parlane in the hunt for spots 3,4 and 5 and possibly six.

However in six there's Hini, Flynn and Lythe to consider.

Wicket keeper is normally number seven, my pick of a poor bunch is Griggs and I wouldn't want him any higher in the order.

In terms of bowlers, spots 8-11, I seriously think Patel, Southee and Gillespie are musts considering their international experience which leaves space for another seamer which probably comes down to McKay or Scott, both these guys are left arm quicks which gives our attack a bit more variaton.

Given the logjam in the middle order I'm not going to suggest another possible team just yet but hopefully some more people can weigh into the debate now I've presented the stats.

Aren't the Parlanes both over 30 and both ineligible for selection?

Otherwise, I'm pretty much thinking the same things that you are. I've never been convinced by Tim McIntosh as an opener - too inconsistent for my liking. So, maybe Redmond/Ingram to open up. In the middle order, Ryder/Broom/Flynn/Hay/Todd and Taylor (if eligible) are the main candidates.

The all-rounder could well be Hiini again; though he hasn't been doing as much batting this year.

Neil Parlane is 30 in August, but he's not at the top of the list for me anyway.

Taylor has played two tests so if he plays the full England series (and who knows with these selectors if that will happen) he'll have played five by season's end.

The Selection Process Starts Now! Phone your Kiwi friends and get them involved. Any other selectors are welcome to join. In addition to the rules from previous years, I will be experimenting with some changes to this year's selection process. As such, the following changes have been introduced:

Proposals

1. Selection should start from a month before the end of the season. By this time, the best players should already have been identified and any late performers can be added into the mix during the selection process. Selection should be finished before the last first class game of the season.
2. Focus should be taken away from selecting a team to selecting a SQUAD of 14 which would be capable of playing on both seaming and spinning wickets in a first class match.

As such, a selected squad would need 2 Openers, 4 Middle Order Bats, 2 Keepers, 2 Spinners, 4 Seamers. Any of the bowlers can be all rounders to add to the batting depth of the side.

The batting order for a seaming/spinning wicket would be the final consideration.

SELECTION MUST BE COMPLETED BY 2ND APRIL, IN TIME FOR THE STATE CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL

Interesting idea Andy, are you sure we have the depth though? lol.

The finals April 7 to 11 so maybe we should have the team signed off by the end of March?

Yip. I reckon we can find enough players to make up a squad, though with the Kiwi team I reckon we'll pretty much know who the First XI are and who the Squad players are.

I'm in Brisbane between 26th and 31st March, so the squad will pretty much need to be sorted before then with final sign off early April, though ideally we'd have it done by the 26th March, before the final round of State Championship games.

I'm going to list my contenders for each spot, and we'll see if we have a consensus:

Openers: Ingram, Redmond, Ellis, Weston, McIntosh
Middle Order: Ryder, Ross Taylor, Nicol, Broom, Hay, Flynn, Todd
Keepers: Griggs and BJ Watling (I guess)
Spinners: Patel, Schaw, Bruce Martin, Lythe, Houghton
Seamers: Southee, Scott, Gillespie, Hiini, McKay, Bowden, Grant Elliott

The ones in bold I doubt there'll be much argument about including, whilst the ones in Italics are ones I'd like to see in there.

Hmmmmm, I'll go with (and using the same system as Andy).
Openers: Redmond, McIntosh, Ingram, Astle
Middle: Ryder, Taylor, Todd,Hay, Flynn, Nicol, N. Parlane,
Keepers: Griggs and considering the competition, whoever the U19 keeper is. Can we have Van Wyk?
Spinners: Patel, Lythe, McCullum?
Seamers: Gillespie, McKay, Southee, Scott, Hiini

So, combined so far that would give us:

Redmond
(A.N.Other)
Ross Taylor
Ryder
Hay
Todd?
Griggs
Hiini
Southee
Patel
Gillespie

As the first XI and the following squad:

Openers: Redmond + 1
Middle Order: Taylor, Ryder, Hay, Todd
Keeper: Griggs + 1 (I don't think van Wyk is eligible yet)
Spinners: Patel + 1 (We both named Lythe, so maybe him)
Seamers: Hiini, Southee, Gillespie + 1 (Scott, McKay or Elliott if we want an all-rounder)

We'll have to drag a couple of other Kiwi fans in to gauge opinions. Where are crabs and Mr. Kiwi when you want them, eh?