You wouldn't ask a nurse to perform surgery. So why roll the dice with part-time keeper BJ Watling, who, it seems, is poised to take the gloves for New Zealand in the one-off test against Zimbabwe next week? Cricket writer Adrian Seconi reports.
The former opening batsman has played enough cricket to know the value of a good wicketkeeper.
Test cricket is hard yakka.
You have to be able to concentrate for hour after hour and the wicketkeeper is at the sharp end of the fielding effort.
The gloveman has to remain in a state of high alert every minute his side is in the field. It is a demanding art.
There was a time when ability with the gloves was enough.
Runs were a bonus. That is no longer the case. Wicketkeepers fail with the bat at their peril.
It is the reason incumbent keeper Reece Young has been dropped for the one-off test against Zimbabwe. It is also the reason Auckland's Gareth Hopkins was discarded.
The whole country would breathe a sigh of relief if Brendon McCullum relented and returned to the role. Until that unlikely day, Wright is stuck with plan B, which appears to be to pick the next best batsman and hope for the best.
Wright wants to play four seamers, which means Daniel Vettori will bat at No 6. Clearly he is nervous about how the top order will perform and wants some insurance at No 7, in the form of a wicketkeeper who can bat.
That is where BJ Watling comes in. He has form with the bat at first-class level but the problem is he does not keep often enough. Peter McGlashan is cemented as the Northern Districts No 1 and Watling has had to make his way as a specialist batsman.
For that reason, Wright has included Central Districts keeper Kruger van Wyk in the test side, just in case he has a late change of heart. But Watling will take the gloves in the three-day warm-up match against the tourists later this week. If he does well enough, then the test spot is his. Not everyone is convinced it is a sound punt.
Otago cricket association chief executive Ross Dykes knows a thing or two about wicketkeeping. The former national selector stood behind the stumps for Auckland from 1967-68 to 1976-77 and he is far from convinced a part-timer should get the job.
"The problem I have with what John Wright is doing, and it is a philosophical difference, is I believe a wicketkeeper is as much a specialist as an opening batsman," he said.
"In test cricket you might have to keep all day and have to come out for another half a day or so. It is physically and mentally demanding and it takes time to develop those skills. Imagine if you drop some guy at ten to six in the 88th over, and he goes on to get another 100 runs?
"That is how you judge the value of a wicketkeeper - how he concentrates and how he maintains his standards all the way through a day.
"It is a difficult thing to do and, for someone like BJ Watling, who is clearly a gifted athlete, he hasn't had time to learn that and I think he would struggle with his concentration"
So, if not Watling, then van Wyk?
"I still believe there is daylight between Brendon and the rest," Dykes replied.
"But once you get beyond that, then I think you've got Gareth Hopkins, Derek de Boorder, Reece Young and Kruger van Wyk, who are all of round about the same level in terms of wicketkeeping.
"Obviously, I have seen a lot of Gareth and Derek and feel they are the next best. But I'd have to acknowledge there is a fair bit of parochialism in that."
Wellington keeper Joe Austin-Smelly is still finding his feet at domestic level and McGlashan, while he can be brilliant up at the stumps, tends to fade in and out of matches.
