Scott Styris striving for national return

Scott Styris, the New Zealand allrounder, has been overlooked for the series against Bangladesh but new coach Mark Greatbatch, who is also a selector, said it was partly because New Zealand wanted to test their bench strength.

Styris has not been in the first-choice XI for more than year now but when he got his chances in the three ODIs against Pakistan in UAE, he didn't make any substantial scores or impress with his bowling.

"The reason Scott missed out was that we wanted to look at some others for this series," Greatbatch told the Sunday News. "He had an opportunity in Dubai as a batter and he didn't quite take his opportunities to the full there."

Styris was one of the standout players in the Twenty20 domestic competition, the HRV Cup, scoring 274 runs at a strike-rate of 133 besides chipping in with 12 wickets. There have been media reports attributing Styris' exclusion from the national side to an attitude problem, but Greatbatch scotched those rumours.

"It was disappointing to read the speculation that he missed out because of his attitude and there's no truth to that whatsoever," he said. "There was no discussion during our selection meetings for this series about his behaviour."

Despite injuries to several New Zealand players, including allrounder Grant Elliott, Styris was left out, but he was encouraged by a call from Greatbatch. "I hope that I'm a valued member of that side and I think I am judging by the fact a lot of the guys this week have been telling me that's the case," he said. "I can only take at face value what the selectors told me. Mark Greatbatch has always been straight with me in the past and I have no reason to think that he's not being the same now."