Given John Bracewell’s endorsement of his batting line up and the fact that Bell was awarded Vincent’s NZC contract, it looks like the selectors are keen to persevere with the How/Bell combination. They have also spoken of their desire to use specialists, which would rule out Fleming (as would his pending retirement), James Marshall & Fulton from the above list of doing so again. So what other options, apart from the incumbents and Papps & Cumming, do we have at the moment?

Auckland have used Tim McIntosh, Richard Jones & Martin Guptill. Canterbury have used Todd Astle & Shanan Stewart. CD have used Geoff Barnett, Peter Ingram & George Worker. Otago have used Leighton Morgan & Aaron Redmond. ND have used BJ Watling, Grant Robinson & Brad Wilson. Wellington have used Luke Woodcock, Jesse Ryder & Michael Parlane.

From that list Barnett is ineligible as he plays for Canada, whilst the selectors are unlikely to go for Jones who is 34 or Parlane who is 35. The name that immediately stands out is Jesse Ryder, but he is not a specialist opener and has been talked about in the all rounder type role further down the order, similar to the position Grant Elliott is there for. Shanan Stewart is not a specialist either.

None of the rest have a first class record that would yell out to the selectors, but one encouraging aspect is that all are relatively young, especially Guptill (21), Astle (21), Worker (18), Watling (22) & Wilson (22). Given the nature of the role (in terms of facing bowlers quicker than anything we have here, with a new ball, and all sorts of pressure opening the batting), we should be looking for someone with a fair amount of experience at first class level as nobody has the raw talent of say a Tim Southee, or a Daniel Vettori from 11 years ago.

This leaves 3 candidates: Tim McIntosh, Peter Ingram & Aaron Redmond. McIntosh was in the picture a few seasons back, but then a run of poor form & a move to Canterbury (where his highest score was 21) eliminated him from the picture. Although he did score a double century last season, he has since only passed 50 three times and hasn’t converted any into a century. He does have a decent record (70 matches for 10 centuries, 13 half centuries at an average of just under 31) but seems to have lost his form.

Peter Ingram has played 47 matches for 6 centuries and 7 half centuries at an average of 28. Although that average is not great, it is on the move up with a good couple of seasons this year and last, and he has shown that he can score runs.

In the case of Aaron Redmond, his record is a little misleading as he started off as a legspinner, batting in the middle-lower order. However, he is now an opening batsman, chipping in with a few overs of legspin every so often. Since he established himself at the top of the order in the 05/06, Redmond has scored 1201 runs at an average of 52, including 3 centuries and 7 half centuries.

So although we aren’t blessed with too many options, in the case of Peter Ingram and certainly Aaron Redmond, we have a couple of openers who are pushing for selection outside of those already tried. Unless the selectors decide to take a punt and choose one of the youngsters, Aaron Redmond looks next cab off the rank.