New Zealand have dumped Matthew Bell and Mathew Sinclair, stuck by "wild child" Jesse Ryder and named one new face in a revamped batting line up for their cricket tour of England starting this month.
The Test and one-day squads also include the recall of James Marshall after three years in the wilderness, while Peter Fulton, who has struggled with form and injuries in recent months, is also back in the frame.
Selection panel manager Richard Hadlee said they had taken a long-term view with the squads.
"These squads signal the future for the Black Caps and there are a number of exciting selections," he said.
The rejection of Bell and Sinclair was not surprising after they struggled through the recent home series against England where New Zealand lost the Test series 1-2 after earlier winning the one-day internationals 3-1.
Although opener Bell scored 69 in New Zealand's fruitless second innings run chase in the final Test, it was not enough to eradicate memories of three previous ducks and a series average of only 19.50.
Aaron Redmond, who averages 31.66 in domestic first-class cricket, becomes New Zealand's latest opener.
"We hope he can provide a long-term solution to the top order, which we recognize as still being a key issue," Hadlee said.
Daniel Flynn is the new middle order option in place of Sinclair who averaged just 11.83 against England.
It is the first time Flynn has been named in a New Zealand Test squad but he was briefly included in the recent Twenty20 and one-day international series.
Explosive left-hander Ryder starred in the one-day series against England, but was then ruled out of the Tests after injuring his hand during a drunken incident.
He has been selected for the limited overs segment of the tour subject to a medical clearance.
If he is not fit then Fulton will take his place in the one-day squad.
In New Zealand's bowling line up Mark Gillespie and Michael Mason are both included in the five-match one-day squad with one to be added to the Test line up.
Allrounder Grant Elliott will cover for New Zealand's Indian Premier League contingent at the start of the tour.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but
Taiwanese gymnast Lee Chih-kai failed to secure an Olympic berth in the pommel horse following a second-place finish at the last qualifier in Doha on Friday, a performance that Lee and his coach called “unconvincing.” The Tokyo Olympics silver medalist finished runner-up in the final after scoring 6.6 for degree of difficulty and 8.800 for execution for a combined score of 15.400. That was just 0.100 short of Jordan’s Ahmad Abu Al Soud, who had qualified for the event in Paris before the Apparatus World Cup series in Qatar’s capital. After missing the final rounds in the first two of four qualifier