Cricket: McMillan back as injured Oram drops out

Craig McMillan

Craig McMillan is poised to get another chance to rekindle his international career after being drafted into the New Zealand side for the three-match series against the World XI.

McMillan has been brought in to replace allrounder Jacob Oram, who missed Central Districts' last match with a back strain and has been advised to take more time before throwing himself into the intensity of international cricket.

Dropped from the test team at the end of last year's series in England, McMillan was recalled in controversial circumstances for the tour to Australia, but was a major disappointment in the first test and did not play in the second.

His one-day future looked similarly bleak when he played no part in the Chappell-Hadlee Series in Australia and was then jettisoned from the squad to play Sri Lanka after Christmas.

However, some solid domestic form and concern over Oram's injury created another opening for McMillan yesterday, and coach John Bracewell said he deserved the opportunity.

"His [McMillan's] role in the squad will be as a batting allrounder," Bracewell said.

"He's been in excellent form for Canterbury and should take a lot of confidence into this series."

Oram will remain with the New Zealand squad and will be assessed each day, with a view to considering him for selection later in the series, if possible.

The World XI, who will be kitted out in rainbow colours for the series, had mostly arrived in New Zealand yesterday, with former England players Graeme Hick and Nick Knight the first to touch down, followed by Sri Lankans Muttiah Muralitharan, Sanath Jayasuriya, Kumar Sangakkara, Chaminda Vaas and former South African allrounder Lance Klusener.

Jayasuriya, whose mother was injured when the Boxing Day tsunami struck, said yesterday that it was strange to be returning to New Zealand after experiencing the devastation that cut short his team's previous visit.

"I didn't realise that the tsunami could have caused that much damage," he said of his homecoming.

"I visited my mother in hospital, went back to my home town and saw my father and brother and his family - fortunately they had escaped the water.

"When you saw all the people who had died and the numbers of homes destroyed, it was very disturbing."

He said one of the healthiest developments to come out of the disaster was the willingness of people to lend a hand - adding that the assistance from the cricket establishment and from individual players had been overwhelming.

The charity match at Melbourne last week raised more than A$15 million for the cause, and New Zealand Cricket hope to raise enough funds from the three-match series to pay for one of four villages that Sri Lanka Cricket are reconstructing.

"It's very important for Sri Lankans," Jayasuriya said.

"We need to help people at home because they're in a really bad way right now, and we have to rebuild things very quickly.

"Cricket's governing body has taken a good position to support the affected countries."