Selectors keen to see contenders do their thing

New Zealand women's star bowler on their Northern Hemisphere tour last winter, Rachel Pullar of Otago, has ruled herself out of consideration for the New Zealand team for the World Series of Women's Cricket that starts at Lincoln University at the weekend.

Pullar's absence will be a significant blow for the TelstraClear White Ferns as they attempt to compete with Australia, India and England in the four-way series. It is understood she intends on travelling overseas.

She was easily the most dominant bowler on New Zealand's tour, taking 21 wickets in 10 matches at an average of 6.76.

Also missing from the side is Fiona Fraser who has a back problem that has ruled her out for the remainder of the summer while Anna Corbin shattered a thumb at practice last week and is also out for the rest of the season.

With Kathryn Ramel's retirement, New Zealand will only be able to call on four players who remain from the CricInfo Women's World Cup-winning side of 2000 - Emily Drumm, Rebecca Rolls, Haidee Tiffen and Nicola Payne.

What that does, however, is provide more opportunities for the New Zealand A players who are taking part in a series of warm-up games, starting with a match against New Zealand at the High Performance Centre tomorrow.

Two members of the squad of 14 will be added to the New Zealand side for the match. Other games follow against India on Wednesday, Australia on Friday and England on Saturday.

The first match of the WSWC is to be played at Bert Sutcliffe Oval on Sunday between New Zealand and Australia.

The New Zealand squad for tomorrow's game is: Nicola Payne, Rebecca Rolls, Emily Drumm, Kate Pulford, Haidee Tiffen, Aimee Mason, Frances King, Nicola Browne, Louise Milliken.

White Ferns coach Mike Shrimpton said there were five or six names on the selectors' short list but the A team had everything to play for. The key thing for the selectors would be assessing which players were best equipped to make the step up.

"There's no shortage of talent, it's just knowing who to pick," he said.