Clearly there is more to Sinclair’s likelihood of playing for his country again than his form at domestic level. Form which has seen him proclaimed first class batsmen of the year at the recent NZ Cricket Awards.

Sinclair’s first obstacle is the selection policy of John Bracewell, which as observed by Andrew McLean would seem to favour persevering with new blood rather than recalling previous experiments.

Secondly is the parochial mentality that seems to permeate when New Zealand sportsmen look to ply their trade abroad. For Kiwi rugby stars, accepting an overseas job is virtually guaranteeing a kiss of death to their prospects of an international recall. And whilst New Zealand cricketers are generally not subjected to the same level of intense insular scrutiny as their rugby counterparts, playing cricket in South Africa is very unlikely to help Sinclair’s chances of a return to the top level.

And finally, there is the motivation from Sinclair himself to pursue international honours and one senses that the frustration Sinclair has been feeling with the shroud of fog blanketing his route back to international representation, is gradually transforming into an acceptance of his fate;

“I haven't heard. I don't know much. There hasn't been much communication from the selectors saying how far away I am”

His comments to the media recently reeked of resignation rather than optimistic speculation and he confesses to holding little confidence of being offered a central contract.

All of which would seem to suggest that Sinclair’s international days may well be over, and for a player who is still only 30 and has scored three hundreds and a fifty in his last four innings , it would seem a harsh ending to an international career that never really gathered enough momentum for his name to be an automatic entry into the team-sheet.

Is he the man who started with a double ton? He is quite like India's Vinod Kambli then. Some days back Mike Atherton wrote a good piece on the wherebouts of the player: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?xml=/sport/2006/03/19/sctend19.xml&sSheet=/sport/2006/03/19/ixcrick.html

Sinclair is definitely a great talent. Indeed, he scored the most runs in New Zealand domestic cricket this year. If he is to leave to play for Eastern Province, it will be a loss for Central Districts and New Zealand cricket

I am a die hard NZ cricket follower, living in Australia and thus do not get to follow much of the NZ domestic scene. However, having grown up watching NZ struggle at the top order for many many years now it has been a constant disappointment seeing the team trial opening pair after opening pair, with little or no success (barring Mark Richardson). Matthew Sinclair is a technically correct batsman with a sound defensive technique and in my opinion is ideally suited to opening the innings or perhaps coming in at first drop. With this in mind it baffles me as to why he was not at least given a national contract as one of the top cricketers in the country, let alone a tour spot to South Africa. This coupled with his current form as the best batsmen on the domestic scene it does not surprise me the he is looking elsewhere, he cannot do any more to push his selection case so upon the latest team announcements it is almost a certainty he will never pull on the coveted black cap once again, even if he does not go to SA. As a lover of NZ cricket it pains me to say, but perhaps he should look abroad, at least that may send a message to the NZ selectors that enough is enough and the politics must end. The best side must be put on the paddock each and every time. NZ does not have the luxuries of Australia where the talent pool is overflowing with bright young prospects ready to burst onto the scene (eg Michael Clarke, Shaun Tait etc), so we must treasure a natural talent like Sinclair. He was a young prodigy who burst on the scene (as did Clarke) with great success and then the light dimmed off (as did Clarke) now he has had time to fully mature as a cricketer he must be given another shot (as will Clarke).