Turner defends Twenty20 selection

Glenn Turner, New Zealand's chairman of selectors, has defended the selection of the Twenty20 squad against India, saying players were picked based on the current injury situation and not due to a rotation policy. Turner was reacting after seasoned internationals like Scott Styris and James Franklin were left out in favour of relatively inexperienced players.

"It is too easy to say that when a player does well at provincial level, it doesn't count - we think that it does," Turner told the Dominion Post. "Also we are having quite a few injuries and we have the Twenty20 World Cup coming up in June and we only have these two matches.

"It is not a rotation policy, it is more about taking advantage of an injury situation to give someone else an opportunity. Quite often those last two positions you choose could go any number of ways.

"The argument is your core players win you games and those two final selections you make are less likely to. Therefore, by swapping them around a bit you learn more about different individuals."

Franklin made a comeback during the recent home series against West Indies after a long injury lay-off but didn't make an immediate impact. He played the one-off Twenty20 in Australia, bowled one over and scored only three runs. Ewen Thompson, who made his international debut in the Twenty20 against West Indies in Hamilton in December, has been picked ahead of him.

''ET [Thompson] had one go and made a bit of a go of it," Turner said. "Their [India's] openers like the ball coming on. We left him out previously because he lost form but he's been bowling better recently and he can also bat a bit towards the end."

With allrounder Jacob Oram back in the squad and batsman Neil Broom trying to establish himself, Turner added that there was no scope for Franklin to play as a specialist batsman in the middle order.

Turner said Styris, who missed the ODIs in Australia due to injury, will be back in the frame for the one-dayers because he is better suited to the longer format.

"He (Styris) starts off slowly and is committed to getting in and scoring big, but he hasn't really yet shown out," Turner said. "We are talking about Twenty20. He has a better show for the 50-over stuff."

The first of the two Twenty20 internationals is on Wednesday in Christchurch.