Time for New Zealand to blood young talent
Writing in the Dominion Post , Simon Doull says New Zealand must use the home series against Zimbabwe to test new talent
George Binoy
25-Feb-2013
Writing in the Dominion Post, Simon Doull says New Zealand must use the home series against Zimbabwe to test new talent. He believes Auckland spinner Roneel Hira, Wellington batsman Michael Pollard and Northern Districts opener Brad Wilson deserve a go.
Of course, to suggest that the selectors use this Zimbabwean series as the chance to pick a handful of untested players and see whether they're up to the task would be foolish. The Black Caps can't afford to be chopping and changing their line-up all the time. What I'm suggesting, however, is that they identify a number of "up-and-comers", pick them for the Zimbabwe series and then, regardless of how they perform, persist with them through the South African series that follows.
In the New Zealand Herald, Andrew Alderson examines the growing presence of African-born players in New Zealand cricket.
A generation ago, the subject was more the nature of a trivia question: which New Zealand cricketer was born in Nairobi? Dipak Patel. Now there has been something of a surge, with six of the 72 provincially-contracted players born in Zimbabwe or South Africa, and Durban-born BJ Watling one of 20 nationally-contracted players. Others such as Roald Badenhorst and Carl Cachopa (Central Districts) and Craig Cachopa (Wellington) are also playing matches in various formats. The quantity of African players is apparent but their quality is also worth noting.
George Binoy is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo