Ahead of the domestic cricket summer, Neil Broom and Jimmy Neesham were given the task of dominating domestic cricket and working their way back into Blackcaps contention. Based on how Lesson go about their business, I doubt it really was as simple as that - clarity on what a player's role is and what's required to earn selection hasn't been a staple of the Lesson regime. This did however offer an interesting narrative to follow during the Plunket Shield and Ford Trophy for these the two Otago Volts.

Broom has wiggled his way back into the Blackcaps ODI squad to replace Kane Williamson when the Prince cbf for the last two games of the West Indies series. This didn't come via Broom's Plunket Shield work as he didn't hit a half-century in six PS innings (27.83avg) and Broom's Ford Trophy work in three games was slightly better as he did manage a 55 (35.66avg/72.78sr).

So, after being asked to earn his Blackcaps spot through domestic cricket domination, Broom has earned his Blackcaps spot with a top-score of 48 in six PS innings and by being the 16th best run-scorer in FT.

I'm all for clarity in what players must do to make the Blackcaps Battlers and in the instance of Broom here, Lesson haven't exactly stuck to their guns.

Jesse Ryder is far too cool/good for the Battlers, so I'd never suggest that he should be in the Blackcaps but he does provide an interesting dose of context for Broom's PS numbers as he was one of a few batsmen to also play six (of a possible 10) innings. While Broom couldn't pass 48, Ryder hit two centuries and two half-centuries in his six innings.

Let's go further because it gets even funkier; BJ Watling managed two 50+ scores in six innings, not to mention Australian all-rounder Daniel Sams who also doubled up on 50+ scores from six innings, shit the bed even Doug Bracewell hit two 50+ scores from just five innings.

Somehow Broom has been rewarded with a Blackcaps call up despite a line in the sand being drawn. Broom's done nothing wrong here and I wouldn't care if Broom was named to replace Kane Williamson without that line in the sand being drawn. My preference is to give younger players an opportunity and that's amplified with an ODI series vs West Indies, but Broom is a steady batsman on kiwi soil, against weaker opposition, for a few games, so whatever.

What's crazy is that Broom was dropped on the premise that he needed to get back to domestic cricket and dominate. Broom didn't do that and Broom gets his spot back; even Broom's probably a bit confused.

With Neesham, things get very weird as Neesham has effectively fallen of a domestic cricket cliff this summer, after getting the line in the sand laid down. I'm unsure whether Neesham's absence from the last two Ford Trophy games is via injury or a lack of form, so keep that in mind as Neesham may be battling an injury behind the scenes; since the start of PS, Neesham has no 40+ scores in 10 innings and he's taken 8w in the 8 innings in which he's bowled.

Break that down further and you get Neesham averaging 26.71 in PS, while his bowling numbers were low key solid as Neesham didn't get too many overs but took 6 of his wickets in PS @ 26.50avg/2.89rpo. Neesham had a duck vs West Indies, followed by 2 in the opening FT game before young Otago all-rounder Shawn Hicks took his #4 spot.

During PS, Neesham wasn't terrible with the willow as he had five 20+ scores and a cheeky 4*. It's not as though Neesham was in such a spot of bother form-wise that he couldn't score a run and he was doing the tough stuff nicely, only to be dismissed after getting a start. This has been written before Otago's first Super Smash game, so I'll be intrigued to see A) Neesham's involvement and B) his production given that this has probably been his toughest domestic summer thus far.

There are two yarns within this yarn; Neesham and the weird selection policy of Lesson.

Going deep into Neesham's lack of form can't be done yet as we've got a small sample size and although Neesham definitely hasn't been slick, he just hasn't been horrible either. Neesham hasn't responded to Lesson's selection criteria and that's a bummer, although I can't act like Broom has been far better than Neesham. Hence, at this stage the yarn is all about another weird selection move from Lesson.

The shenanigans here sit in the fact that Lesson offered clarity and then went against their own clarity. This gets a wee bit crazier when you take that and also ponder how NZC have highlighted Super Smash as a priority, yet rob the Super Smash of Aotearoa's best cricketers by also scheduling their buffet of limited overs cricket during the Super Smash. In either instance, they (Lesson/NZC) are self-sabotaging and doing the opposite of not only what seems logical, but what they have expressed as their desire.

It's all rather comedic at this stage, so have a chuckle and know that this can only result in one outcome. Until we reach that outcome, I'll keep highlighting the inconsistencies and let them stack up.

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Peace and love 27.