Just when New Zealand's test selection options were thin, for a time they looked like taking another haircut before the Black Caps' test against Zimbabwe starting tonight (NZ time).
With the 15-man squad already trimmed by the departures through injury of seamer Kyle Mills and batsman Jesse Ryder, left arm bowler Andy McKay was hit by a stomach bug, which for a time threatened to deprive him of a second test appearance.
However, the Wellington fast-medium bowler appeared to be over the worst of the effects last night and is in the frame for selection.
The way things were going, coach John Wright might have been required to dig out his old whites.
Wright and captain Ross Taylor have a couple of selection decisions.
With Ryder having gone, they need another batsman, which can only be BJ Watling, who played the last of his five tests against India in Ahmedabad late last year.
Alternatively, they could promote wicketkeeper Reece Young to No 6, bump debutant Dean Brownlie to No 5 - his selection having been flagged previously by Wright - with Dan Vettori at No 7 and making room for a fifth specialist bowler.
The bowling options are either to include a second spinner (Jeetan Patel) in a five-strong attack, opt for a two-seam, two-spin option, or go with the more traditional three seamers and one spinner (Vettori), but in one respect it could be a thin attack.
Neither Graeme Aldridge nor Doug Bracewell have played a test. Both, in fact, have made their twenty/20 and ODI debuts on this trip.
It is likely Watling will get a start - even against Zimbabwe's lean bowling resources, five batsmen sounds a shade skinny. If so, it will continue an interesting test career.
It would be his sixth test and against a fifth country, having previously played against Pakistan, Bangladesh, Australia (twice) and India.
McKay would be a welcome presence, for his lefthanded line offers a point of difference. His only previous test produced one for 120 on a batsman's strip in Nagpur a year ago.
New Zealand has been boosted by the arrival for the test of senior seamer Chris Martin and former captain Vettori.
In Martin's case, he is sitting on 199 test wickets from 61 matches. The sooner he becomes the fourth New Zealander - after Sir Richard Hadlee, Vettori and Chris Cairns - to 200 the better. He has been sitting one short since last January, when New Zealand last played a five-dayer.
He is not fussed who he gets for No 200, adding that he thought he remembered his first wicket (Gary Kirsten in November 2000) "and I'll probably remember my last, but everything in between is probably a bit of a blur".
Travelling from Auckland to Zimbabwe for one test is ridiculous, but that is the itinerary that was agreed between the boards.
Martin was not required for the twenty/20 and ODIs which dominated the schedule, and Vettori does not play the shorter games at present.
New Zealand won all but the third and final ODI, which Zimbabwe won by one wicket with a ball to spare, chasing down 328.
That will have given the host some self-belief and it has decent batsmen, but a question mark over its bowling.
Captain Brendon Taylor is in fine form, as two centuries in the ODIs suggest. Hamilton Mazakadza and Tatenda Taibu have good recent test numbers, but how Zimbabwe will get 20 wickets to achieve its first win over New Zealand in 14 attempts is a moot point.
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