Ben Wheeler's been in the mix before, now he's got some serious competition for a back-up spot.

Creeping in under the radar of a Blackcaps Test squad to tour India last week, was the announcement of a New Zealand XI and an Emerging Players XI. The two teams will face off in three 50-over games in Lincoln this week and while it will be interesting to look back on the individual performances once it's all done and dusted, what intrigues me the most is what players have been selected.

First of all, I don't think there's a whole lot of difference between the two teams. The NZ XI includes players who I'd consider 'emerging' players and the Emerging XI includes guys like Colin de Grandhomme and Todd Astle who have far too much experience to be lumped in a straight up 'emerging' group. It's just a few team names - might as well have some fun with the team names in that case (yawn).

Here's the NZ XI...

George Worker, Anton Devcich, Will Young (capt), Colin Munro, Mark Chapman, Adam Milne, Tom Blundell, Ben Wheeler, Seth Rance, Jacob Duffy, Hamish Bennett, Cameron Fletcher

Guys who are on the cusp of Blackcaps selection from that team are Colin Munro, George Worker and Adam Milne. Milne's still battling injury and has been selected as a batsman which is a wee bit weird, almost as weird as the Blackcaps persistence with Martin Guptill or their belief that Doug Bracewell's Test batting average of around 13 warrants the 'all-rounder'tag. What worries me is that there's a reliance on blokes who can do a bit of everything, instead of developing specialists who are excessively good at their core job.

Munro and Worker are in or around that Blackcaps squad already so no dramas, while Hamish Bennett probably won't feature as a Blackcap again. Seth Rance has dominated the domestic scene for a season or two now with Central Districts and could storm his way into the ODI or T20 team, however with a young crop of bowlers building nicely, don't expect Rance - or Bennett - to get close to the Test team.

Anton Devcich is a limited overs specialist, meh.

Youngsters who kiwi cricket fans should be excited about are Will Young, Mark Chapman, Ben Wheeler and Jacob Duffy. Young will skipper this team and along with Chapman, they are two of the country's most talented batting prospects while Wheeler has already tasted some Blackcaps action and closely resembles Trent Boult. Duffy's a right-arm seamer who has been with Otago for a few seasons now and he'll be someone who could come into the Blackcaps picture with a few more good domestic seasons.

Tom Blundell and Cameron Fletcher are both promising wicket-keeper/batsmen and it'll be interesting to see who scores more runs out of these two, or who gets more game time behind the stumps.

Here's the Emerging XI...

Michael Bracewell (capt), Jeet Raval, Robbie O'Donnell, Corey Anderson, Colin de Grandhomme, Tim Seifert, Shawn Hicks, Todd Astle, Scott Kuggeleijn, Matt Henry, Lockie Ferguson, Edward Nuttall.

Jeet Raval could do with a few runs and is already in the Blackcaps mix, while Corey Anderson and Matt Henry's selections speak for themselves. It's hard to picture de Grandhomme making any waves with the Blackcaps in the future and despite a cheeky resurgence last summer, the same goes for Todd Astle. Astle's chances are a lot higher than de Grandhomme's though and if the Blackcaps suffer a few injuries in the spin department, Astle will get a run.

Michael Bracewell is the skipper and he's a powerful lefty from Otago who has plenty of experience at the domestic level for a young buck. Of all the youngish batsmen named, Bracewell is probably the bloke who's best-equipped to make the jump up to international level right now as he's stacked up runs for a number of seasons and has paid his dues. Scott Kuggeleijn has also paid his dues and was the leading wicket-taker in Plunket Shield cricket last season with his hustlin'/bustlin' style of bowling causing batsmen plenty of problems. Kuggeleijn's a handy batsman as well, but he'd need to demand selection through even more wickets this summer or have a bit of luck with injuries ahead of him to get into the Blackcaps frame.

Auckland's Robbie O'Donnell is cut from the same cloth as Young and Chapman, so keep an eye on which of these three lads does the best in these games. Tim Seifert will also feature in another battle of three youngsters, joining Fletcher and Blundell as young wicket-keepers who could take over from BJ Watling one day. Seifert is Watling's deputy at Northern Districts and will be keen to stamp his mark here, over Blundell and/or Fletcher.

Shawn Hicks is a bit of a prodigy as a highly talented all-rounder. We're fairly stacked at the all-rounder position and Hicks is still yet to really establish himself at domestic level so don't expect him to be a Blackcap in the next two years. After that though, Hicks could demand selection as a batting all-rounder. Hicks' Auckland comrade Lockie Ferguson gets an opportunity and with Milne unable to bowl, Ferguson will probably be the quickest bowler on show.

If I were to pick one lad from either team who is my favourite domestic performer at the moment, it's Ed Nuttall. It could be because he reminds me of that cartoon 'Ed, Edd and Eddy' or it could be because he's a lefty who gets plenty of swing and dominated domestic games last summer when he was healty. I prefer Nuttall over Wheeler (because his name's Ed) and it's just another battle that we need to keep an eye on as Nuttall and Wheeler are both bowlers who can move the ball in the air, backed up by plenty of wickets.

Stay tuned, there'll be some debriefing to do once these games are wrapped up.