Southee needs to pick his balls up and charge into the crease - he bowls like he is there for a long time, not a good time. Milne would be good, and I'm a big fan of Ed Nuttal at Canterbury.
Moving Guptill down the order wont solve anything - you'd just then expose his sharkness against spin. He either needs to eliminate his glaring shortcomings, or be moved on.
Having said that........is Raval really >> than Guptill? And it's not as if Latham has done much.....the thing is, both openers do just enough from time to time to keep them in the team.
I'd need to see more of Raval before dropping him in - there's always a tendency to big up the guy who isn't in, only for him to crap out when he gets in. The Matthew Sinclair Syndrome
Guptil is a stroke maker. You would hope that he could come in and flay the bowling at will from 5, without the ball seaming and swinging all over the place. I'd love to see some of that Astle-type power hitting in tests. He's been so effective in the white ball game.
But to put it simply, he hasn't done a damn thing to justify his place opening. 5 is about the only place where his selection could be justified.
I don't know Raval. But I have seen enough of red- ball Guppy to feel comfortable saying he's not a test opener. Is there anyone of the Fulton ilk who could do a job? Fulton came back and did damn well for us. I'll take results over future investment that doesn't pay off....!
I think Guptill is a power hitter, best served in the one day and T20 forms rather than a stroke maker. A stroke maker is like an Astle (as you say) or a Waugh. When I think of Guppy, I don't think of a batsman playing a sweep shot of a spinner, or dancing down the track to crack one over long-off. Not saying he has never done either, but I can picture Astle/Waugh/etc playing those shots, whereas your typical Guptill shot is playing from the crease and holding his shot. He sees the ball really early and plays with hard hands......and those are two things openers shouldn't do.
The comparison you make with Two Metre Peter is an interesting one - they both strike me as very similar players - tall batsmen, opening the innings, both have shortcomings against pace/swing.
Fulton's "comeback" from 2013 saw him play 23 innings at an average of 28.4.
Guptill's "comeback" from 2015 has also seen his play 23 innings thus far, average of 30.8
As an aside, Latham's last 23 Test innings has averaged 39.5
Unfortunately for Jeet Raval, there aren't any more Test matches in this series so he'll have to wait to get a chance - maybe against the Indians over there?