Cricket: CD banking on element of surprise

Ross Taylor is now playing for Bangalore. Photo / Mark Mitchell

The cards have not fallen Central Districts' way in the lead-up to cricket's T20 Champions League but coach Alan Hunt believes they will have a joker to play when the tournament starts in South Africa this weekend.

Injuries and unavailability have hampered Central's build-up, with Ross Taylor playing for Bangalore, and Jacob Oram and Graham Napier both injured.

Add the fact they have drawn a tough pool, and the odds appear stacked against the New Zealand champions in the lucrative tournament that pits the leading T20 teams from India, Australia, England, South Africa, Sri Lanka, New Zealand and West Indies against each other.

But Hunt is banking on surprise ahead of their first match against Indian champions Chennai in Durban tomorrow (NZ time). "The other teams will be looking at us thinking we're a team to beat, and that's probably fair, but the reality is we've got a number of unknown quantities and I think we might surprise a few people," he said.

"We've got some young bowlers and batsmen who haven't been seen before, and they're all very capable, so I think we may fare better than what the opposition expect."

Among the lesser-known players are 18-year-old pace bowlers Adam Milne and Ben Wheeler, who are relishing the opportunity to work alongside recently retired New Zealand speedster Shane Bond, Central's bowling coach.

Milne burst onto the first-class scene at the end of last season, taking 11 wickets at 27.54 in three matches. Wheeler, a New Zealand under-19 representative last season, is touted by Hunt as a player for the future. Left-arm quick Mitchell McClenaghan returns after a year on the sidelines with a hip injury and, while not yet 100 per cent fit, is expected to spearhead the attack with Michael Mason.

Central start against coach Stephen Fleming's Chennai followed by matches against Victoria (Australia), the Warriors (Port Elizabeth, South Africa) and Wayamba (Sri Lanka).

- NZPA