Way back when Australia were dominating Test cricket, they made a habit of replacing established Test players with experienced performers from their domestic cricket scene. These blokes - Michael Hussey leads the way - stacked runs and wickets up, season after season as they waited for just a slither of an opportunity to play Test cricket. 

In the past 12 months, we have seen a similar trend emerge in Blackcaps selections with the likes of Jeetan Patel, Luke Ronchi, Todd Astle, Dean Brownlie, Colin de Grandhomme and Jeet Raval selected over younger players. This isn't all that different from when blokes like Peter Ingram and Brent Arnel (there's many more) were selected to play Test cricket, however at the moment there are young players pushing their case for Test selection which makes the plan to select more experienced players clearer.

I do have a bias towards rollin' with younger players who have shown all the right signs that they deserve to be given a shot at Test cricket and perhaps more importantly, time to settle into Test cricket. As long as there appears to be a plan in place though, I'm happy and it's hard to argue against selecting Patel over Ish Sodhi and Ronchi over Henry Nicholls in India for example, with my personal preference to build towards a genuine tilt at the No.1 Test spot all that I can fall back on. 

In tough touring conditions, going with Patel and Ronchi made sense as they were better equipped to help the team succeed at that moment. This didn't exactly yield any great results which confuses matters as experienced players who know their game inside-out are being selected for success here and now, so if they aren't helping the team win then we encounter the 'could that spot in the team be better used?' discussion.

Patel and Ronchi were then given the 'later bo' with Astle selected to offer spin while Mitchell Santner was out injured and no back up wicket-keeper was required. The selectors could have gone with Sodhi as the spinner, giving him a run on home soil after a long year touring, but they instead went with more of a like-for-like selection with Astle offering a bit of batting. The Blackcaps selectors could have gone with a young spinner but went with a stop-gap selection, allowing Sodhi to get back into domestic cricket. 

Jeet Raval had been knocking on the door for some time and there aren't too many, if any young openers who could demand selection for Test cricket right now. This selection made sense, what's notable is the amount of time Raval had been given to simmer away in domestic cricket to really suss his game out. The Blackcaps haven't exactly had a good opening combo since Raval came into domestic cricket and that's coincided with Raval scoring plenty of runs, so he could have been selected much earlier but he was instead allowed to mature, trusting in the domestic cricket scene to make him better.

A new name was thrusted into the Blackcaps all-rounder situation, with Colin de Grandhomme coming pretty much from no where to keep Jimmy Neesham out of the team while Corey Anderson is still getting back to all-rounder status. Selecting Neesham would have enabled him to spend more time batting and more importantly, bowl more overs and really work on offering a consistently accurate medium-pace as a fourth-seamer. De Grandhomme is already there, he's been doing that job for Auckland for a long time and like Raval,  de Grandhomme was given time to gain comfort and confidence in his role.

This week, Dean Brownlie was called up to cover Ross Taylor. Some would argue that this would have been a great opportunity to get Central Districts Stags batsman Will Young into the Blackcaps set up as he's someone who will likely feature in the middle order for the Test team moving forward. Brownlie averages 40.91 in First-Class cricket while Young averages 40.34, but with Brownlie in slightly better form having hit two centuries this season and more capable of stepping in to do a job for this team right now, Brownlie was selected.

Not only has Brownlie been on the domestic scene for a long time, he's also tasted a fair bit of Test cricket and understands what is required to perform at this level. If Taylor is unable to play, Brownlie would come into the side and look to do the job of Taylor immediately while Brownlie's home ground with Northern Districts is also Seddon Park. Current form, the bloke he's replacing, experience and knowledge of Seddon Park makes Brownlie the perfect lad to fill the hole left by Taylor.

While part of me feels like opportunities are being missed to allow young players time to grow into solid Test cricketers, I'm enjoying the trust shown in domestic cricket. Domestic cricket is a stomping ground for Aotearoa's best cricketers - young or old - and you must earn your stripes there, consistently over a decent period of time to put yourself on the radar. It's hard to see any of these older players selected having long-term futures in the Blackcaps Test team, but there desire to ensure that Plunket Shield is the proving ground instead of allowing players time in Test cricket has to be admired.