The selectors have announced the test and ODI squads to tour England, including what some might consider one or two surprises.

Test squad: Daniel Vettori (c), Brendon McCullum (vc), Daniel Flynn, Peter Fulton, Gareth Hopkins, Jamie How, James Marshall, Chris Martin, Kyle Mills, Iain O’Brien, Jacob Oram, Jeetan Patel, Aaron Redmond, Tim Southee, and one of Mark Gillespie or Michael Mason.

Gillespie, Mason and Grant Elliott will travel as cover for the 5 IPL players. Upon their return, a decision will be made over whether to retain Gillespie or Mason in the test squad.

ODI squad: Daniel Vettori (c), Brendon McCullum (vc), Daniel Flynn, Mark Gillespie, Gareth Hopkins, Jamie How, Jacob Oram, Michael Mason, James Marshall, Kyle Mills, Jeetan Patel, Jesse Ryder, Scott Styris, Tim Southee, Ross Taylor.

The main talking point in the test squad is the inclusion for the first time of Daniel Flynn and Aaron Redmond. Daniel Flynn has played a T20 and an ODI against England, so was obviously in the selectors’ thoughts. He has been in good form in the State Championship this season, scoring 663 runs at an average of around 60, and scored 2 centuries in his last 2 matches.

Aaron Redmond might be a new name to some, but thesilverfern.com predicted him as the next test opener a couple of weeks back: (http://www.thesilverfern.com/news/opening_options_slim_pickings.htm)

For their own sake & the sake of our test team, hopefully they perform with distinction!

There are some other interesting points too. With the absence of 5 players with the IPL, Jamie How will lead the side in the warm up games. The two leading captaincy candidates (Vettori & McCullum) will be absent, and also arguably the third in Oram. With those 3 out, How probably picked himself as the captain, but what a great honour to lead his country.

Also, the squad was enlarged to 16 to include Gareth Hopkins as back up keeper. In the past, we’ve had the likes of Lou Vincent and Mathew Sinclair, picked as batsmen but able to keep wicket too, but in this squad there is nobody that can cover that position.

There are also recalls for James Marshall and Peter Fulton. Fulton was always going to be in the squad, given his relative experience and our huge loss of experience (with Fleming & Styris retiring), and James Marshall really forced the hand of the selectors with a stellar season (616 runs at an average of a bit over 51, including 2 centuries and a 99). Marshall also has a wealth of experience, having played 95 first class matches.

Not really any surprises in the ODI squad, with only Tim Southee set to make his debut (remembering he was with the national under-19 side when England was here), James Marshall recalled (scoring 470 runs this season at around 52) and Jesse Ryder included. Obviously the selectors have faith in Ryder’s attitude (there’s no doubting his ability). However, he is yet to prove his fitness, and Peter Fulton is on standby if Ryder is not fit.

So overall, no major surprises, but a couple of well-balanced squads, and good to see the selectors introducing some new players into the mix.