Team for the first test

Richard Boock thinks Stephen Fleming might be pushed to the top of the order for the first test to make room for Scott Styris in the engine room. Styris, of course, is not currently in the team, has been in poor form for Middlesex (scoring 382 runs at 25.46) and has all the brain-wattage of the broken light bulb I spent an hour trying to remove from an over-elaborate light-fitting last night.

If you follow Richard Boock's logic then either James Marshall or Craig Cumming will have to be dropped - and in my opinion both have performed well enough to be retained. If Styris were to come into the side at the expense of someone in the middle order instead he will have to dislodge either Hamish Marshall, Nathan Astle or Lou Vincent - and all have scored centuries in their last couple of test innings (Vincent's being a double).

To my mind if you use Boock's logic and then apply some commonsense the most likely batting order is:

Cumming
James Marshall
Fleming
Hamish Marshall
Vincent
Astle
Oram
McCullum
Franklin
Vettori
Bond

The one problem with this line-up is that half the bowling attack (Oram and Bond) are returning from injury and I suspect the selectors will still have some lingering doubts about the ability of either to bowl for an entire test match. Especially if they only want to use Bond in short bursts - something that will put extra pressure on the two other seamers, Franklin and the recently crocked Oram.

If a batsman was going to be dropped from the line-up, then I think the selectors are likely to go for a specialist bowler as a replacement and not Styris. That specialist bowler would probably be Chris Martin, who seems almost impervious to injury and has the ability to bowl all day. In taking this step they would find some reassurance in the realisation that the tail includes batsmen of the ability of Oram, Vettori and Franklin and has room for a bunny.

Geoff Longley follows this line of thought in the Press and thinks that Cumming should be the one to give way for Martin. His reason for this is that Cumming's technique is still questionable given the number of LBW decisions against him and that he hasn't had much recent cricket. Longley's XI is:

Fleming
James Marshall
Hamish Marshall
Vincent
Astle
Oram
McCullum
Vettori
Franklin
Bond
Martin