Questions aplenty for selectors as they ponder Sri Lankan tour?

New Zealand may be well into their World Cup campaign but soon after the Cup is completed, however far New Zealand progresses, a side has still to be picked for the tour of Sri Lanka.

The tour, which starts on April 15, involves two two-day warm-up games, two Tests, starting on April 25 and May 3 respectively, and a one-day tri-series with Sri Lanka and Pakistan starting on May 10, with New Zealand's first game on May 11, in which the New Zealanders will play the other two sides twice with a final being played on May 23.

Given the fact that Nathan Astle will be missing from the side in order to have surgery on his knee, and that top-order batting spaces, as well as possible bowling spaces will be available, there is plenty of incentive for batsmen playing in the State Championship to be making a mark.

With that in mind, the top of the run scoring list for the Championship lacks some names that might normally be expected to be there, most notably Mark Richardson and Matt Horne.

Both are potential Test openers for New Zealand.

Lou Vincent was used as Richardson's opening partner in the home series against India this year but there was never the sense that he had claimed the position for himself.

And if run scoring is anything to go by, it may not be an issue that has been cleared up, to this stage at least.

Going into today's seventh round of games in the Championship, Richardson had scored 227 runs at 32.42 so far from his five matches. That placed him in 21st place on the list for most runs and with Pakistan's Mohammad Wasim and Gloucestershire county professional Craig Spearman out of the running, 19th on the list.

Horne was four places further back on 220 runs at 31.42.

Sitting on top of the list was Wellington's consistent Richard Jones, who had 438 runs at 43.80, but perhaps more significantly with the longer term aim in view, in second was Rob Nicol with 436 runs at 54.50 and Tim McIntosh 425 at 53.12.

Wasim was next in line with Michael Papps the only other New Zealander to have scored more than 400 runs with his 402 at 44.66.

Given that Richardson is unlikely to be overlooked unless affected by injury, the way may well be clear for the selectors to look at introducing new blood.

Where does Mathew Sinclair fit into all this? Is Jones at 29 years out of the selectors thoughts? Or is the inclination to draft a younger player into the side?

The other area of interest is in the faster bowling stakes.

Shane Bond is a must to be in the side before joining with Warwickshire in the County Championship. But who might accompany him: World Cup squad members Daryl Tuffey, Kyle Mills, or the recovering from injury Ian Butler and Shayne O'Connor?

Where do Jacob Oram and Andre Adams fit into the picture? Will some of the players be regarded as one-day specialists and sent for the latter part of the tour? Where does the 12th man from the Indian series Michael Mason fit into the scheme of things? And what of Chris Cairns?

At the moment, Iain O'Brien heads the bowling list with 25 wickets at 15.60. Andrew Penn is second on 23 wickets at 18.91 while O'Connor has 22 wickets at 18.13.

Mason is behind Wellington's Matthew Walker (22 wickets) on 21 wickets at 18.95 while Butler, who has played only three games has 14 wickets at 18.71.

And what of the spinning situation? Clearly a slow bowler will be needed to accompany Daniel Vettori. The best-performed to date is the former international Paul Wiseman with 12 wickets at an average of 38.33.

Left-arm slow Bruce Martin has nine wickets, as does Glen Sulzberger, but their respective averages are 23.22 and 53.11. Leg-spinners Brooke Walker and Aaron Redmond have eight wickets each, at averages of 33.75 and 30.37.

It is not exactly the most dazzling case to put before the selectors. So the last four rounds offer plenty of scope for potential team-members.

Although there has been a plethora of one-day cricket, it is worth remembering that the incumbent Test team is: Richardson, Vincent, Stephen Fleming, Craig McMillan, Astle, Scott Styris, Oram, Robbie Hart, Vettori, Tuffey and Bond.