Sydney, Sep 18: New Zealand captain Ross Taylor has said all rounder James Franklin might open the batting for them in the Twenty20 World Cup in Sri Lanka.
Franklin, considered as one of the best players of spin in the side, opened for the side in the nine-run warm-up loss to South Africa in Colombo on Monday.
Taylor said the left-handed Franklin was promoted up the order to take on the left-arm spin of Robin Peterson.
“Franky (Franklin) I thought batted very well, and, I wouldn''t rule that out for other games in the tournament,” the Sydney Morning Herald quoted Taylor, as saying.
“There are a couple of spots where players will definitely bat, but more often than not we''ll be pretty flexible in our top eight,” he added.
Franklin, who made 60 in his only other appearance as an international opener against Zimbabwe in February, scored 12 off 11 balls as the Black Caps made 8-177 in reply to South Africa''s 6-186.
The Black Caps, with only 11 fit players, opened their bowling with spinners Ronnie Hira and Nathan McCullum.
Tim Southee and Daniel Vettori missed the match with stomach bugs, while Kyle Mills and Jacob Oram, also sat out the match with injuries.
© ANI
