With the introduction of several all-rounder prospects recently - Corey Anderson, Colin Munro and Jimmy Neesham being examples - Franklin is playing for his livelihood with next year's contracted players revealed within a fortnight.
Franklin admits as much, having spent minimal time batting and taking no wickets for 113 from 15 overs in New Zealand's six ODI matches in England.
He front-foots any suggestions of critique with disarming honesty: "It's frustrating when I didn't make a significant contribution either with bat or ball."
The 32-year-old is renowned for his versatility but, in an odd way, he believes it may have been a hindrance in an international career stretching back to 2001.
"I've never really nailed down a certain position," Franklin concedes. "But I've been around long enough to know you have to adapt when asked."
Franklin gives the impression he's confronted the demons of his inability to translate often impeccable domestic form to the international stage.
One theory doing the rounds is a curiosity as to how he might go opening in the shorter formats? It might sustain his career. As a fellow left-hander, Hamish Rutherford is opening with Martin Guptill in T20s for now but is Franklin a viable option? Few players time the ball sweeter when in form and anecdotal evidence suggests he is as powerful a hitter as anybody in recent years.
Understandably Franklin doesn't want to query team strategy; but he'd willingly accept the task if offered.
"I love doing it because you can play without too much fear, get the team off to a good start and dictate the pace of the innings. I've had a couple of goes at international level [he made 60 from 37 balls against Zimbabwe and 35 from 36 against Bangladesh in 2012]. It gave me a great opportunity to have a crack."
Franklin is familiar with facing the new ball in English conditions and such a role might offer him more purpose in the current limited overs line-up be it for 50-overs (where Luke Ronchi struggled over six innings in England) or 20.
In the English 40-over competition back in 2010 he averaged 73 opening or at first-drop for Gloucestershire. He made a couple of hundreds and fifties with a strike rate of 92. New Zealanders have rarely seen this side of him.
In the T20 matches, he averaged 39.16 but stepped the strike rate up to 130. Similarly for Essex last season, he faced the new ball in the majority of his 10 T20 innings. He averaged 27.55 with a top score of 78 and a strike rate of 111.
Former coach John Wright flirted with the idea of Franklin opening in limited overs but it's a concept worth reviewing with a World T20 in Bangladesh next year.
Coach Mike Hesson indicated Franklin was the ODI squad's back-up opener and, if such a move was pursued rather than continuing to use him in a piecemeal all-rounder role, it could resurrect his career.
Franklin's contributed some stellar moments in an international career which started in January 2001. He's the owner of two of the more unusual test records. Franklin is one of only two New Zealanders (the other being Peter Petherick) to take a test hat-trick. He ran around the field wearing a look suggesting Santa had not long shot up the chimney when he bowled Bangladesh's Tapash Baisya at Dhaka in 2004.
There was also his record eighth wicket partnership of 256 with Stephen Fleming against South Africa at Cape Town in 2006 on his way to 122 not out; his sole test century.
However, he is magnanimous - or perhaps realistic - enough to foresee a future without him.
"I've got to an age where I'm not looking too far ahead. Guys out there are filling a similar role to me and I've got to keep up with the pace. It is just a matter of time before there is a transition to the likes of Corey [Anderson]. He's got all the skills and is honing them at the moment. The role of older guys like myself, Dan [Vettori] and Kyle [Mills] is to guide and help."
- Andrew Alderson of the Herald on Sunday in London
