This whole concept of playing regular Aotearoa 'A' cricket may be new for us, let alone two series in the space of a few months. There's one more four-dayer in the series vs India A and then we move into a one-day series, which means we've got another Aotearoa A squad to suss out. It's legitimately weird to have this much A cricket, yet also beautiful as it's all us kiwi cricket fans have wanted for the past few years.

ANNOUNCEMENT:

A huge congratulations to Canterbury Men's captain and all-rounder @ColeMcConchie on being selected to represent NZ A against India A in their One-Day series! https://t.co/jRbWizQddl #WeAreCanterbury #cricketnation pic.twitter.com/39afTh8i9K
— Canterbury Cricket (@CanterburyCrick) November 29, 2018

The Aotearoa A one-day squad could be viewed as the funkiest of all the different A squads we've seen recently. This is because it's a bit different to the group that went to United Arab Emirates for A cricket, moving more in the direction of the Blackcaps and further away from the development type of group. From the one-day squad that played in UAE, Scott Kuggeleijn, Blair Tickner, Kyle Jamieson, Tom Bruce, Logan van Beek and Glenn Phillips have dropped out.

BJ Watling, Neil Wagner and Ajaz Patel also played in the Pakistan A series (one-dayers) and are now on Blackcaps duty, while Todd Astle returned to Aotearoa with an injury. All up, that's 10 players who were in the UAE for one-day cricket who aren't in the squad to face India A and that's a very interesting ploy at this stage of the pre-World Cup timeline.

My gut feel on that idea is that this India series may be viewed as a bridge between Ford Trophy cricket and then Blackcaps one-day cricket in Aotearoa this summer. With the World Cup looming, that's a crucial bridge for the likes of Corey Anderson, Doug Bracewell, Lockie Ferguson, Jimmy Neesham, Tim Seifert and George Worker who I've got in a group of A cricketers sniffing around the Blackcaps mixer.

Given that most of those dudes have recently been in Blackcaps squads, that's a fairly easy group to name. Neesham's the only one who has been playing steady Ford Trophy cricket, while Bracewell played a few games before moving into the four-day A squad. The bridge idea still applies to all these lads in the sense that they haven't crossed the bridge back to Ford Trophy, an ideal situation as they can stay at the A level.

There is also an intriguing group of cricketers who I can't see pushing their case for World Cup selection, or even ODI selection this summer; Hamish Bennett, Seth Rance and Hamish Rutherford. This group though, is a group that feels ODI ready and while I think there are better cricketers pushing for World Cup selection, these three are genuine A cricketers; perform at domestic level consistently and dabble in Blackcaps duty.

Last summer Daryl Mitchell was the SKYCITY Northern Knights' Young Player of the Year. This season he's picked up right where he left off, scoring his maiden first-class century, leading the run-scoring and averaging over 54 in the Plunket Shield and, after just three Ford Trophy rounds in which the Knights are unbeaten, has already pocketed two half-centuries, including 95 in the first round.

Of course, exceptional performances from anyone in this squad could fire them into contention we've seen how reactionary ol' mate Larsen can be. Same goes for the third tier of players in this squad; Cole McConchie, Daryl Mitchell and Rachin Ravindra. Ravindra's a bit different to the other two as he won the Aotearoa A free pass and has been a staple of all the A squads recently, performing admirably in the process.

McConchie and Mitchell are the development players chucked into this system on the back of ... well, not so much Ford Trophy domination this summer but consistently strong Ford Trophy performances for a few seasons. Both deserve this look and ideally they will benefit from moving up a level, perhaps even putting pressure on the group from the UAE series who are now surplus to requirements back in Aotearoa.

The best way I can describe this squad would be that it's a squad for an 'A' World Cup; if every World Cup team (and all the beautiful 'minnows' who get screwed over) sent a second-tier team, this squad would resemble Aotearoa's one-day second-tier.

As far as lads to watch out for, Jimmy Neesham is the one to highlight. If he can level up from his Ford Trophy work, then he'll swing back into the ODI mix and possibly World Cup thoughts. There is a clear path laid out for Neesham to waltz down, stemming from his Ford Trophy runs and the next twist is A cricket.

Also, Lockie Ferguson starts as the leading seamer in my notebook. I'm not predicting that Ferguson's the best, nor that Ferguson will be the most successful seamer in the series though as I can see Hamish Bennett blasting through India's top order and/or who can lean against Seth Rance in Aotearoa? However, Ferguson starts as the bowler who is closest to the Blackcaps ODI group and of all the kiwi seamers, Ferguson's the guy with the most to prove this summer as he hunts for World Cup selection. What Ferguson does in this India A series could present clarity around his ODI standing.

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Peace and love 27.