In a decision that will gladden the heart of every toiler doing the rounds in provincial cricket, Peter Ingram and Andy McKay are the latest cricketers to line up for a New Zealand debut.
An assignment with Bangladesh is as low-key as international cricket gets, and both relative veterans of the domestic game will be given every chance to strengthen their claims for selection when the might of Australia arrives in February.
Don't get me wrong: both cricketers have done the job for some time in the colours of their provinces.
But I can't help but feel disappointed that two men aged 31 and 29 and best characterised as 'battlers', get the nod ahead of better, long-term alternatives.
The 'bolt-from-the-blue' analogy is best summed up with the fact that when the New Zealand A squad toured India last August, neither Ingram nor McKay made the cut.
I would have thought that such an A tour, with the primary purpose of grooming the next group of Black Caps, would be the best avenue to trial Ingram and McKay.
If I were Jamie How, BJ Watling or Brent Arnel, I would be wondering how the process of selection actually works. Investment was made in this trio - in Arnel's case, he even has a full-time contract - and yet their claims are ignored.
But the selectors will reply that this trio - and others working hard on the periphery of selection - haven't done quite enough to turn their heads.
Maybe it is one of the negative aspects of scheduling the HRV Cup during the main part of our season. The Twenty20 concept entertains, yes. But it does not give anyone - selectors and players alike - an accurate measure of form.
The need for, say, a batsman to score at a strike rate of 130, heightens the risk appetite, allowing the sublime and the ridiculous to merge as one.
Statistics can be disregarded, and the selectors need to rely on their 'eye' for a player.
If they have had their eye on Ingram and McKay, then theirs is a scrutiny that has lasted five years or more.
Sure, the selections may succeed.
But more likely it will be a further indication that the depth of quality players in New Zealand is nowhere near where it should be.