Ian Butler, New Zealand's fast bowler on Test debut, will have double cause for celebration when taking the field for the first during the first National Bank Test in Christchurch on Wednesday.

Apart from the obvious delight in joining the Test ranks, he will also be thankful that he didn't take up a contract with Essex last summer and put himself in the English cricket system.

Butler has a British passport and last year when playing a one-off game for the Sussex 2nd XI against the Essex 2nd XI his club captain, from the Sussex championship club he had been playing for, was approached by the Essex administration with a contract offer for Butler.

However, Butler knew that if he signed that would preclude him playing for New Zealand and while it all happened a little sooner than he might normally have expected, injury to Shane Bond saw Butler included in the New Zealand one-day team for the series against England, and now the Test side.

And if he had gone into the English system he might well have disappeared from sight.

As a result of his promotion he has shelved ideas of returning to England for another club season and is keen to make some of New Zealand's off-season tours.

New Zealand has a better record in recent years of taking calculated punts on young players and Daniel Vettori and Craig McMillan are two players who have come through with flying colours.

Now Butler has his chance after a stuttering start in the ODIs, but with better field settings available to him, he can do what has attracted the selectors to him in the first place, run in and bowl fast.

His efforts for Northern Districts in their last State Championship match with Wellington, when he hit CLEAR Black Caps skipper Stephen Fleming hard enough on the hip for some precautionary x-rays to be taken.

Butler knows that he didn't make the most of his chances in that game.

"In the second innings I went searching for wickets rather than concentrating on the process of getting wickets, and that was probably reflected in my figures," he said.

If selected in the playing XI, and there seems little reason why he wouldn't be, he is expecting a big workload in the game and takes the view, "the more bowling for me the better."

Being involved in the one-day side had been a great experience for him and he enjoyed being part of a winning side and to have had a taste of international play.

Aiming to hit the seam as much as possible he likes to move the ball back into the batsmen. As a fast bowler on the Jade Stadium portable pitch it will be of great interest to see how much he utilise the conditions to his advantage.

© CricInfo