You’d like to think that a warm-up match – particularly one with most of the home test squad playing – might tell you a bit about the players’ current form and how they might play against each other in the upcoming matches. Unfortunately, a match where 4/5 batsmen in an innings retire and the other team lose loads of their wickets to a player who doesn’t even qualify to be in the test team, is not going to have great predictive potential.

Instead, let’s compare the two squads.

New Zealand

Here’s the squad most of whom played in a team good enough to beat Australia:

• Ross Taylor (c) – 20th ranked batsmen
• Trent Boult – 3/26 in bowling Aus out for 136
• Doug Bracewell – already fulfilling his big destiny in first season
• Dean Brownlie – scores a 50 in every test (admittedly, only 3 so far)
• Martin Guptill – ranked within the top 50 (Don’t think that is impressive? Check out the Zimbabwean squad)
• Brendon McCullum – hitting and missing as an opener
• Chris Martin – 210 test wickets (the Zimbabwean squad has 145 between them)
• Tim Southee – slowly approaching higher mediocrity
• Kruger van Wyk (wk) – not quite good enough for SA, good enough for us?
• Daniel Vettori – fricken’ awesome
• BJ Watling – battling for a gap in the team rather than on his own merits
• Sam Wells – who knows?
• Kane Williamson – not exactly setting the world alight at this level so far

Zimbabwe

And the team that came close to beating New Zealand:

• Brendan Taylor (c) – Wellington’s only Twenty20 centurion (I think)
• Regis Chakabva – 1 test to his name, against us
• Elton Chigumbura – 1449 Facebook likes
• Graeme Cremer – a rhino!
• Kyle Jarvis – a quick with an SR of <50
• Hamilton Masakadza – holder of 2/5ths of the squad’s centuries, i.e. 2
• Shingi Masakadza – test virgin
• Stuart Matsikenyeri – opener of thoroughly modest ability
• Tino Mawoyo – 66th ranked batsman, second only to Brendan Taylor
• Keegan Meth – test virgin and a struggler in ODIs
• Forster Mutizwa – test virgin, not too shabby in ODIs
• Ray Price – 63rd ranked bowler, second only to Kyle Jarvis in the squad with Mpofu injured
• Tatenda Taibu – a genuine keeper/batsman, and a relative veteran with 27 tests
• Prosper Utseya – 1 test, nearly 8 years ago
• Brian Vitori – 88th ranked bowler after 2 tests, but 56th after 1
• Malcolm Waller – hit the winning runs against us at Bulawayo

So

Looking at those two lists, NZ clearly have the wood over Zimbabwe. That Zimbabwe squad is looking very shabby and full of holes, even compared to a NZ squad with more mediocrity than class.

Still, this is the 8th ranked team playing against the de facto 9th ranked team. It isn’t an even contest, but it would hardly be an upset if Zimbabwe made it competitive.

First up is the test squad:

• Daniel Vettori (captain)
• Craig Cumming
• Grant Elliott
• Daniel Flynn
• Martin Guptill
• Chris Martin
• Brendon McCullum
• Tim McIntosh
• Iain O’Brien
• Jacob Oram
• Jeetan Patel
• Jesse Ryder
• Ross Taylor
• Daryl Tuffey
• Reece Young

I’ve marked three names in this list in red, the non-contracted players. I find it surprising that just a week after indicating their favourite players in the contracts list, the selectors change their minds and offer up a slightly different list. In this respect, Tuffey is an interesting choice, as he wins selection above the contracted players Kyle Mills, Tim Southee, James Franklin, Ian Butler and Brent Arnel. Reece Young also displaces the otherwise preferred back-up wicket keeper Gareth Hopkins, as well as Peter McGlashan (though McGlashan hasn’t yet figured in the test equation). In contrast, Craig Cumming only knocks one contracted batsman out, Neil Broom, who hasn’t been considered for test cricket anyway. Which poses the question as to whether the contracts list is weighted too much in favour of bowlers.

I don’t disagree with the selections too much however. I would have like to see Franklin in for Elliot. I would of course liked to have seen Shane Bond in the test squad, but it was definitely sensible to hold him back for this leg of the tour. I would also rate Tuffey above Mills and Southee, on current form. I don’t think I personally would have given Cumming a second look. However, I must admit to being pleased he has been given the chance to erase the memory of what must be one of the worst cameos earlier this year when he was called into the one-day squad to play one match, in which he scored 0 and dropped a catch, but also thereby missing the State Shield final, which his team Otago lost in his absence.

The ODI/20-20 squad brings in the following:

• Shane Bond
• Neil Broom
• Ian Butler
• Gareth Hopkins (ODIs only)/Peter McGlashan (Twenty20s only)
• Nathan McCullum
• Kyle Mills

With the following being dropped:

• Craig Cumming
• Daniel Flynn
• Chris Martin
• Tim McIntosh
• Iain O’Brien
• Daryl Tuffey
• Reece Young

So big differences between the test and limited over squads, with about half the squad changing.

One of the reasons such changes can be made is because NZ A is playing across the Palk Straight in Chennai, assuming it is confirmed. The NZ A squad includes most of the guys added for the limited over leg:

• Peter Fulton (captain)
• Brent Arnel
• Shane Bond
• Neil Broom
• Brendon Diamanti
• Gareth Hopkins
• Jamie How
• Peter McGlashan
• Nathan McCullum
• Kyle Mills
• Tarun Nethula
• Aaron Redmond
• Tim Southee
• BJ Watling
• Kane Williamson

In some ways this is actually a more interesting squad than the test squad. There are a couple of players there who I would like to stay in touch of the test squad, Peter Fulton and Jamie How, who I think are better than they have been. As well as the future of NZ cricket, Brent Arnel, Bradley-John Watling and Kane Williamson, or so we are to believe. And other exciting additions, Tarun Nethula and Shane Bond actually back playing for New Zealand.