A severe shortage of young spin bowlers could make its presence felt on the New Zealand cricket scene over the next few years.

The director of the BIL Academy at Lincoln University, Dayle Hadlee is at the national under-19 tournament in Auckland this week and was also at the national under-17 tournament.

There is a genuine lack of left-arm spinners and wrist spinners in the country and while Hadlee said these things tended to be cyclical, it was an area that needed to be addressed.

It further highlights the need to ensure that a player like international left-arm spinner Daniel Vettori is carefully managed in his injury rehabilitation to ensure the crop of spinners available at the top level is maintained.

With off-spinner Paul Wiseman, leg-spinner Brooke Walker and several younger players in first-class teams, there is not an immediate concern at the higher levels but the longer term implications are clear.

Hadlee and his panel of selectors will be announcing their team to play the South African under-19 side in a Youth series on Thursday.

There were concerns about the opening batting for the side due to a lack of technique in leaving balls and in the concentration of players. However, Hadlee was happier with the quality of batsmen below that.

"Shannon Stewart has scored 347 runs at nearly 90.0 so far in the tournament while Ross Taylor, from Central Districts, has an average of 220.0.

"We have good pace with Taraia Robin, who has played first-class cricket for Central Districts, while Wellington's Josh Stuart and Northern Districts' Ian Butler are looking promising. Sam Whiteman of Auckland and Andrew Ellis from Canterbury are promising looking strong into-the-wind-type bowlers," he said.

Otago's Brendon McCullum is proving an exceptional wicket-keeper but Hadlee was concerned about the lack of 'keeping skills beneath that.

"We will have a competitive side," he said.

The side named on Thursday will be the Youth side, and in a departure from tradition there will be no tournament team named. Hadlee said this was so the tournament side would not detract from the naming of the Youth side.

Another departure is the appointment of Mark Greatbatch as the Youth team's coach.

Hadlee, who has filled the role in recent seasons, is standing down to be a back-up coach.

"I have been suggesting to New Zealand Cricket for some time now that we need to have a young coach taking the side to aid the continuity through to higher levels.

"I'm thrilled Mark has accepted the job as he has great potential," Hadlee said.

© CricInfo