Karl on ... who will be in the starting 11?

In the "Bully Boy" article Mike linked to John Bracewell says "Apart from Daryl Tuffey, who is still injured, we've picked probably our A side". Which got me wondering, what will be the "A" starting eleven?

The last team that played was unchanged in the two tests against Sri Lanka in April: Cumming, J Marshall, H Marshall, Vincent, Astle, Fleming, McCullum, Franklin, Mills, Wiseman and Martin. The fifteen that are in Zimbabwe are those 11 plus Bond, Vettori, Oram and Styris.

Two obvious changes will be Vettori in for Wiseman and Bond in for Mills. And arguably Oram and Styris are first-eleven players. So who will come out for them?

Against Sri Lanka H Marshall and Astle scored centuries and Vincent a superb 224. Cumming and J Marshall didn't set the field alight with runs, but they were solid as openers. Fleming was injured but still scored 88 in the second test. Which leaves the bowlers. Oram for Franklin seems sensible although Franklin has done nothing wrong. I think Vincent, Styris and Astle are challenging for two spots. Given the treatment of Mathew Sinclair by the selectors it would not be a surprise to see Vincent dropped. However, I'd opt to leave out Styris as he has not really been playing well in England.

My favoured starting XI:
Cumming, Marshall, Marshall, Fleming, Vincent, Astle, McCullum, Oram, Vettori, Bond, Martin with Franklin as 12th Man.