OPINION: Time to ask questions over partner for Ingram

Anendra Singh sports editor | 9th February 2010

W HEN the Black Caps wagon rolls into town, it's always interesting watching the court jesters in action.

You've got to love them. Sticking the microphones under their noses, they ask skipper Daniel Vettori and his merry men all the warm fuzzy questions.

Then "that bald Ghandi fellow" and a couple of other scribes with a journalistic conscience step in to spoil the party.

One of the curly questions to Vettori at the post-match conference on Friday night was: "So is Brendon McCullum the right person to open batting with Peter Ingram considering he's explosive and comes charging out while the other works his way into his innings?"

In a paradoxical world where a team "definitely has room for improvement but I think it was a complete performance", the response can throw one off his perch but this time I was safe.

Vettori: "I think Brendon displays those qualities as well. If you look at his past five or six one-day performances he's been quite outstanding so he's definitely the man for the job."

The wicketkeeper, run out for a duck in Napier, was again perilously close to a similar run out in his home turf in Dunedin yesterday during the second ODI before chopping the ball on to his stumps for five runs.

As luck would have it, this tour is the perfect time for Black Caps to resurrect their careers, especially if you are going through a lean patch like Jacob Oram has for about 18 months.

Please enter the court, the representative of the touring Bangladeshi team, opening batsman Tamim Iqbal Khan, who responds to the warm fuzzies as a player would to throw downs in the nets before a wicked bouncer.

"You couldn't believe getting Brendon McCullum out so early, could you?"

Khan: "No, we always knew he'll always give us a chance so we need to grab it."

For a team of predominantly 19 to 20-year-olds, the tourists certainly saw the 28-year-old Otago Volts batsman coming and do ask some questions about how well prepared the Black Caps are for the arrival of the Australians.

To have Bangladesh as the entree is a good confidence-building exercise before the main course, regardless of all the pre-tour hype about taking the subcontinent wallahs seriously because on any given day they could kick any opposition's butt.

Openers in the country are a rarity and when one comes along in the form of Central Districts go-to man Ingram then the future looks bright.

He has unorthodox style, defying probably every batting technique in the instruction manual and his lack of footwork raises eyebrows.

But for once, someone is showing the steely resolve to occupy the crease and keep things ticking over.

The question is, who else can stay with Ingram all the way to the test arena?