Cricket: Stags 'waiting for word' on Milne

Heinrich Malan

Doug Bracewell will be gone but Adam Milne is likely to step into the domestic fray after Christmas.

"We're waiting for a confirmation from the Black Caps on the workload for Milney," CD Stags coach Heinrich Malan said from Auckland yesterday before their first-class match against the Aces at Eden Park from today.

Malan said the Ford Trophy one-dayers, which start on December 27, would be a good preparation for the Black Caps speed merchant.

Bracewell has been in sublime form for CD since returning from the UAE tour.

"Dougie has taken 17 wickets in two games," he said, after CD opened the summer with a victory over the Otago Volts in Napier but losing the second round to the Canterbury Kings in Christchurch. There, former Caps opener Peter Fulton was the difference with a double century in a high-scoring affair and a competitive score on the last day.

Malan said Bracewell was a quality cricketer who had the propensity to also make the cut from the 30-man 2015 ICC World Cup ODI squad because of his determination to "get across the line".

"He'll be up against Matt Henry, Milney and the other guys in UAE now."

Bracewell will be in the equation for the opening Boxing Day test match against Sri Lanka in Christchurch.

The Stags will be up against familiar faces, such as ex-CD cricketers Carl Cachopa and Tarun Nethula, in the Plunket Shield match from today although Malan alluded to "a bit of weather" that may hold them to a ransom.

He felt it was demanding in the last round for players coming out of the white-ball campaign with batsmen playing T20 shots and bowlers fishing for four-day length.

CD only needed to reflect on a solid 400-plus total established against the Volts in the opening round to tee up a match.

Cachopa and Nethula are pedigree players but CD will focus on what they need to do.