Test cricket's absence during the height of summer means that there isn't a whole lot to talk about with regard to the Blackcaps Test team ahead of the first Test vs England. Two Tests vs West Indies earlier in the summer gave us nothing funky as West Indies simply weren't very good, while the space in-between Test series means that we can't really talk about form or players who are in danger.

Now is a good time to make a quick shout out to NZC; cheers for the four Tests this summer.
When pondering this Blackcaps first Test squad, I keep coming back to Todd Astle. I've already said my piece about Astle's selection and am now intrigued as to where Astle fits in, or more to the point how Lesson will handle Astle.

Common sense would suggest that Astle comes straight into Mitchell Santner's spot, thus giving the Blackcaps a team of Raval, Latham, Williamson, Taylor, Nicholls, Watling, Astle, de Grandhomme, Southee, Wagner, Boult.

KINGSTV is proudly presented by our very own Canterbury player Logan van Beek. In Episode 6 Logan catches up with 'Spin King' Todd Astle at his home and gets an insight on his cricketing career so far and how far he has come.

I'm not here to tell youz that a Nicholls/Watling/Astle middle order doesn't feel all that solid against England's seam attack, nor am I here to debate whether Astle can genuinely be considered good enough with the willow to demand selection in Test cricket in such a role. Part of my intrigue sits in a case of wait and see as I am super excited about seeing what Astle dishes up in this role, in turn either justifying or exposes Lesson's decision making.

Yet I also have a hunch that Astle won't actually play.

This is highly likely knowing what we know about Lesson and from that hunch, I went within to nut out how or why Astle would miss out on the playing XI. The fascination with the seam/swing offered by the pink ball and how that is enhanced under lights, could see the Blackcaps opt for Matt Henry to bolster their seam bowling ranks or somehow Martin Guptill could squeeze in now that he's been added to the squad - he's only in as injury cover but we saw how Ish Sodhi's injury cover inclusion went during the ODIs.

If Henry is included ahead of Astle, then Lesson's rationale for selecting Astle is exposed by themselves as they would be going with Henry's seam ahead of Astle's much valued batting. Henry can bat and they will roll out this narrative, like Henry's batting is under-appreciated but he is not an all-rounder. Simply; Lesson select Astle because of his batting but pick a bowler ahead of him.

Guptill is a 10 percent chance of playing. What makes me mention him here is that Lesson have played their cards in suggesting that they have a short batting line up. Rolling with Guptill in the middle order ahead of Astle would be absorbed by Tim Southee, Trent Boult, Neil Wagner and Colin de Grandhomme doing the mahi in what should be favourable conditions. Bolster the batting line up and tell the seamers it's up to them.

Obviously that's not a great idea and if this does happen, Lesson will be exposed at a nek level.

Spinners and especially leggies can be effective on any deck. Hence I want Sodhi given a regular gig in the Test team as he's grown up on 'kiwi seaming decks' and his a distinct advantage on such pitches via his height and bounce. But it's Astle in the squad and as a leggy, Astle should be given a crack as an x-factor bowling. Leggies can be effective on any pitch, whether the leggy is or is not effective depends on the quality of the leggy.

Guptill hasn't actually done anything to demand Test selection though.

I understand why Guptill has been selected as injury cover; he's experienced and versatile (apparently) which makes him a good 'job doing' option.

Regular readers will know that I would obviously want any one of Aotearoa's talented youngster to be given a call up as injury cover, just to be around the squad at the very least. My best contenders from Plunket Shield would be Will Young (40.92avg this season), Tim Seifert as a batsman (47.63avg), Tom Bruce (56.20), Tom Blundell as a batsman (39.20avg), Mark Chapman (31.55avg) and you could slide Jimmy Neesham back into the picture now that he has a solid Ford Trophy behind him and has scores of 65, 14, 93, 1 prior to this current round of Plunket Shield.

Shit the bed, lord forbid we talk about George Worker who is averaging 55.50 this season and averaged 60.75 last summer.

(all averages/scores as of Tuesday 19th morning)

Surely for development sake, get a talented youngster in as injury cover to get the Test cricket vibe, chat shit with Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor, get familiar with all the shenanigans of Test cricket. We know the drill by now though and player development, or bringing through Aotearoa's young talent in the best way possible isn't exactly Lesson's strength - just as Mark Chapman.

And so Guppy gets back up job, cool.

England completed a remarkable victory on day three at Edgbaston, after West Indies lost 19 wickets having begun the day on 44-1 in their first innings. Stuart Broad overtook Ian Botham to become the England's 2nd highest all-time leading wicket taker. This is the official channel of the ECB.

Given England's seam attack and the day/night Test situation, I'm not overly confident about this Test for Aotearoa. England feel better equipped for the Test not only in terms of their personnel but also having recently played one in Australia and to judge England on their Ashes performance, would be foolish. The Ashes is a beast that can go wrong, very quickly and a two Test extravaganza in Aotearoa is not quite on par with anything the Ashes can dish out.

This Test is also of great importance when you think about how 2018 has played out so far; T20 tri-series loss (got smoked by Australia numerous times), ODI series loss vs England and possibly a Test series loss. If England win, the Blackcaps will need a win in the second Test to salvage the series and that won't be easy. Otherwise we'll be looking at three series losses in three different formats to start 2018.

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Peace and love 27.