McCullum and Mills win over selectors for World Cup places

Paul Hitchcock and Chris Nevin have been the unlucky players to miss out on New Zealand's World Cup side announced today.

The winners have been Kyle Mills and Brendon McCullum.

The team is: Stephen Fleming (captain), Andre Adams, Nathan Astle, Shane Bond, Chris Cairns, Chris Harris, Brendon McCullum, Craig McMillan, Kyle Mills, Jacob Oram, Mathew Sinclair, Scott Styris, Daryl Tuffey, Lou Vincent, Daniel Vettori.

Sir Richard Hadlee, the chairman of selectors, said the selection had been the culmination of three years work and it had been a very challenging experience due to injuries, lack of form for some players and some easy wins the side has been having against India.

Hadlee said Hitchcock's and Nevin's absence was a result of 17 not being able to go into 15.

"Paul Hitchcock had a very good tour of the West Indies and hasn't let us down. But there are a number of reasons why he wasn't included.

"He has had very limited opportunities to bowl at the death and we feel we will get more out of Kyle Mills."

This was especially the case as it was not yet clear whether Chris Cairns would play as an all-rounder in the tournament or as a batsman only.

Hadlee said that Hitchcock's opportunity had come as the result of injuries but they also saw Andre Adams as a viable option with the ball at the end of the innings while with the advance of Jacob Oram and Daryl Tuffey there was enough experience to provide an option at the end of the innings.

"The death will not be so vital as it has been," Hadlee said.

It was a tough call on Hitchcock and the selectors had also looked at Nevin very closely.

No other players had really stood up in the season to date so it was from the 17 players that the side was selected, although there had still been some grey areas going into yesterday's match against India in Christchurch.

Hadlee said the selection was the unanimous choice of the selection panel which includes Ross Dykes, Brian McKechnie and the team coach Denis Aberhart. Hadlee also thanked New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming for his contribution to the process.

Hadlee said that McCullum's selection as wicket-keeper was because he had made the most of the opportunity given him.

"We see great potential in him as a multi-skilled player while Nevin has not scored the runs," he said.

The TelstraClear Black Caps side were seen as needing energising in the field and McCullum was a key component of that process.

Cairns was still an unknown quantity in his role in the side. He is to play a Provincial A match starting today and there is hope that he will be available to play in the late stages of the series with India.

Coach Aberhart said they were not going to rush anything with Cairns and would err on the side of caution.

"The most important place for him is on the plane to South Africa," Aberhart said.

Captain Fleming also attended the announcement and he confirmed that he was looking to open the batting during the tournament. He knew some consistency was needed at the top of the order to give the side the best possible start and he was sure the conditions in South Africa would be more batsman friendly and would suit a lot of New Zealand's batsmen.

He said he saw Cairns as a batsman at No 4 or 5 in the New Zealand side because he needed as much time as possible because he would win games for the side.

Hadlee said it was true that longest-serving Black Cap Chris Harris was under pressure.

He had a great record and depending on the conditions in South Africa he could provide some selection issues in the tournament.

Hadlee said the beauty of the process to select the side over the last few years was that there was now competition for places in the side. More depth has been created in the game here.

He was especially pleased with the performances of the bowlers during the entire Indian series.

"You can have bowler friendly conditions and not actually bowl well. You can bowl too short on them for example. But our blokes consistently, day in and day out, particularly Daryl Tuffey and Jacob Oram, have been outstanding," Hadlee said.

"The other key point is that we have bowlers with physical presence. They are big, they are strong, they are intimidating to look at. And they are getting the ball to bounce off a length.

"The key for any strike bowler is to beat batsmen off a length irrespective of whether the pitch is bouncing or keeping low.

"The bowlers have made a tremendous stride forward and that has to be good for our game whereas in the past we have struggled a little bit."

That made it possible for Fleming to keep on attacking with no holding period to allow the opposition to take control of the game.

Fleming said yesterday's third win over India in the National Bank Series had been a very good example of what the side could do by continuously attacking. The 40 overs of attack had been enough to bowl the Indians out without having to call on Craig McMillan or Daniel Vettori to round out the 50 overs.

"It's something we've wanted to do for a while and now we are getting the personnel with confidence and the ability to do it and that's very exciting," he said.

Hadlee said he made no apologies for having put pressure on players with media comments in recent weeks. The selectors had made some big calls, the players had put some pressure on themselves and had been on edge, but the side was winning.

"That pressure is all about accepting the challenges. If they can handle what has gone on over the last few months then I think they are conditioned mentally, physically and technically, hopefully, to handle pressure in South Africa," he said.

No stand-by players have been named, but Hadlee said there was still plenty for players to play for in the State Shield. The side doesn't leave until the end of January and if history was anything to go by there could be an injury suffered by a player and if that happened the selectors wanted to be able to keep their options open.