Priority:

GARY Stead dropped opener Jeet Raval 15 months ago after one test in Perth, and promoted Tom Blundell with stunning success in a losing cause in Melbourne.

Since that awful Australian tour, a 3-0 defeat, New Zealand has swept past India, West Indies and Pakistan, all by 2-0, to be the first side into June 18’s World Test Championship final against India at the Rose Bowl.

Now, as Stead prepares to name his squad of up to 20 on Thursday, the Blundell experiment must finally be at an end. A worthy test gloveman and No 6 batsman when BJ Watling calls it quits, he will be in the tour squad but his Wellington teammate Devon Conway is a warm favourite to open with Tom Latham at Lord’s on June 2.

Stead on Thursday offered this praise: ‘‘Devon looks like

Devon Conway has let his bat do his talking as a much anticipated test debut awaits.

he’s got all the skills of being an amazing player and I think we’re really fortunate, at the moment, that we’ve had people in our squad like your Ross Taylors and your Kane Williamsons, then you see someone like Devon Conway come along, and you think this is another guy that could also be in that class.’’

Stead and co-selector Gavin Larsen must have in their minds: ‘how can we not pick him?’. With Williamson, Taylor and Henry Nicholls entrenched at three, four and five, opener is Conway’s spot.

He’s always maintained he’d bat anywhere in the top-four if required. At 29, he has five or six more years at his batting peak, and on his T20 and ODI performances this elevation can’t be delayed.

Blundell averaged 22.6 against West Indies and Pakistan at the top when his defensive technique was exposed. For Wellington, he averaged 19 from 11 Plunket

Shield innings opening before slipping down to No 5 and reclaiming the gloves against Northern Districts last week. The result: 103 not out, after team-mate

Rachin Ravindra made an effortless 138 against Neil Wagner and Scott Kuggeleijn.

As an aside, the latter innings – Ravindra’s third first-class ton – looks to have clinched him an England tour spot as the bolter, with left-arm spin his key asset.

Stead said in picking their test tour squad, they choose the likely 12 or 13 then work their way back.

Judging by recent selections, with the latest tweak, that 12 for the WTC final looks like: Conway, Latham, Williamson, Taylor, Nicholls, Watling, Mitchell Santner/Daryl Mitchell, Kyle Jamieson, Tim Southee, Wagner and Trent Boult.

The backup cast will feature Will Young, Blundell, Ravindra, Ajaz Patel, Matt Henry and maybe Doug Bracewell, while Colin de Grandhomme’s name will feature with an asterisk as he returns from ankle surgery.

Glenn Phillips, Will Somerville and Michael Rippon, the latter the leading spin wicket-taker in Plunket Shield with 17 for Otago, and a handy batsman, will all feature on the fringe of discussions, too. Spin, though, may not play a major role in England in June and Santner, Patel and Ravindra may have that covered with only one, possibly none, to make the XI.

The four quicks are mustselects, then it becomes a toss-up between the all-round qualities of Mitchell or de Grandhomme, or a spin option. Patel remains the pick of those but with the test spinner needing to be a batting option at seven, it restricts his chances unless they’re playing on a subcontinent turner.

For the first of two England tests starting on June 2, and the likely absence of Williamson and Boult in the IPL playoffs, Young would bat three but he looks to have been overtaken by Conway in the pecking order after beating him to a vacant batting spot against West Indies in December.

Thursday’s announcement will answer some questions, although Stead may choose to keep his cards close about Conway’s spot in the order. An intra-squad match in England in May could offer the first major hint, and provide Conway’s springboard into an overdue test cap.