Hesson today named his 12-man squad for the opening ANZ test in Dunedin beginning March 6, with most interest coming at the top and the bottom of the line-up.
With Martin Guptill's hamstring strain keeping him on the sidelines and captain Brendon McCullum committed to a shift down the order, New Zealand need two new openers.
Peter Fulton, set to open in South Africa before injury struck, will fill one position and the other will come from a pair of youngsters. Hamish Rutherford and Tom Latham have yet to wear the whites but one of them will be handed the chance in Dunedin.
Hesson hinted that Rutherford had the inside running, but both batsmen will feature for New Zealand XI where their performances against England's pace attack could be enough to alter the coach's plans.
The other head-to-head battle for the match in Queenstown comes between seamers Neil Wagner and Mark Gillespie. Neither was named in the initial squad today but one will be added following the four-day warm-up, starting on Wednesday.
"It is [a trial] and it adds a bit of extra spice to that game," Hesson said of the tour match. "It's been a busy few days with injuries cropping up."
Considering McCullum has long planned another shift down the order, Guptill's was the most damaging of those injuries. The incumbent has been out of touch in the longest form of the game but would have been an automatic inclusion against a fearsome English attack.
Instead, it will be the experience of Fulton and the youth of Rutherford or Latham, although Hesson said wicket-keeper BJ Watling and Otago opener Aaron Redmond were also considered.
"We looked at the figures," Hesson said about Watling. "BJ averages 20 at the top of the order and since he's been moved to the middle order he averages 67. In the end it wasn't that hard a decision to make."
Rutherford is favourite in the race to join Fulton, considering his recent form for Otago and Latham's lack of recent experience in the opening position.
"We felt it was an opportunity with Martin's injury to expose Hamish, who's averaged over 55 the last two seasons of first class cricket, scored four hundreds, and has a temperament that suits the longer form of the game," Hesson said.
"He's a strong character so it's an opportunity for us to show some faith in his ability. Him and Peter, we're very confident will do a job for us."
There remains a slight injury cloud over Fulton, still hampered by the knee injury which saw him sent home from the South African tour. Hesson said it wasn't a major issue and he backed the Canterbury captain to seize the vacant spot atop the order.
"When he came to South Africa he was in good touch. He'd made some little changes which we thought were necessary for him to have some success.
"Every player in international cricket has technical deficiencies of some manner - it's how you work around those, how you acknowledge them and how you find a way of making it work."
Whoever ends up opening the batting in the first test, Hesson was under no illusions of the tough task they were about to face.
"[Steve] Finn and [James] Anderson and co are high quality bowlers and they've been that way for a long time," he said. "It's going to be tough."
- Kris Shannon of APNZ
