The NZ lineup of recent times traditionally sees an injured or unavailable player replaced in their spot by the reserve, as opposed to an incumbent shuffling up. Ravindra has never batted 3 (or opened) so unless Walter makes a bold move and says "nows the time, we're grooming him for Kane's batting spot" the lineup will probably be:
That's an insane record by Latham. The only one similar I can think of is McCullum.Latham set to miss his first test since his debut in 2014 through injury. Nicholls will make his test match return.
Experience is the only reason I can gather for it, with that experience being an asset for the tour of Aus which feels like what Walters is aiming for. I think there's enough time to blood someone new for that series, but whatever. If it's a "last chance saloon" pick then what does it say really? Nicholls fails against Zimbabwe and that's him done forever? Why would that be needed? If he succeeds and keeps his spot then fails against tougher opposition, what have we learned?
If you've got bracewell and santner, plus henry, thats a decent tail. I suspect its Duffy instead of Smith.
I was thinking it was particularly rough on Young to make him open again because of the injury, but to be fair he might actually prefer it as a chance to get some runs in the position and stamp a better claim on it given he's not going to displace Williamson or Ravindra at 3-4 at full strength. Nicholls is still pointless either way though.
I called it a while ago, Nicholls is going to break Lara's record and it will be beautiful.
