Former Black Caps captain Brendon McCullum says he is "staggered' by the decision to "rest" Tim Southee for the final Test of the current tour of Australia.
Vice-captain to Kane Williamson, 31-year-old Southee made way for Matt Henry, one of five changes by the Black Caps for the series finale in Sydney.
Tom Latham is leading the side in the absence of both Southee and Williamson.
Having taken 12 wickets in the series at an average of just over 26, the Black Caps were at pains to point out that Southee was rested, and not dropped due to poor form.
However, appearing on SEN Radio, McCullum queried the validity of the Black Caps' reasoning for Southee's omission, the seamer instead running the drinks as 12th man.
"If you look over the last 24 months, Tim Southee’s been a standout bowler in world cricket, not just in the New Zealand side," McCullum said.
"It staggered me a little bit, but they’ve obviously made the decision for a reason. It can’t be because of workload because they’ve got two weeks off after this anyway. It’s an interesting decision to make.
"That (fast bowling) was not the area that was broken. That was sort of one of the areas that was going OK.
"The only reason he was maybe lacking penetration with the seamers outside of Wagner is that they were having to bowl a lot of the spin overs that Mitchell Santner wasn’t able to operate to.
"It seems a little odd to me."
McCullum wasn't the only commentator to point out the hole in the Black Caps' Southee story either, ex-England skipper Michael Vaughan adding:
"How can that be right that Tim Southee is out there fielding in the 12th over of the game, yet he's not playing in the Test match?" Vaughan said on Fox Cricket.
"I'm absolutely staggered Southee is not playing.
"Twelve wickets at 26 a piece in the series. There's a whisper they've rested him because of the workload but that can't be right.
"It can't be right that you're resting Tim Southee in a game against Australia at the SCG."
"When you think of the chaos that's gone through New Zealand over the course of the last 48 hours, surely if there's a senior player who is fit and he's bowling well, which he has done, he has to have played in this game - probably as captain as well."
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