Cricket: Taxi crash injury a fright for 'silly' McMillan

By RICHARD BOOCK

Craig McMillan will be hoping for his luck to hold when the rain eventually stops and the first test against Bangladesh can start.

There might not have been a ball bowled in Hamilton yesterday, but the New Zealand batsman still found himself languishing in the x-ray department following a lucky escape from a car accident in the central city.

The 25-year-old right-hander was a passenger in a taxi which was struck side-on by another vehicle shortly after 2 pm, the impact leaving him dazed and nursing an injury to the ring-finger of his left hand.

McMillan, who said he was not wearing a seatbelt, was apparently thrown across the back seat of the cab, banging his head on the other side and hurting his finger.

He had been heading from the team hotel to the ground for the scheduled lunch, but was instead whisked straight off to the radiology department, where x-rays showed there was no fracture.

"I was pretty lucky, to be honest," he said afterwards. "I wasn't wearing a seatbelt, which was pretty silly. The other car drove into the side I was on. I was thrown across the seat and I've only got a bruised finger to show for it.

"It was so quick. I was probably in shock for about 10 seconds. I hit my head on the other side, but that was fine. It was the finger that was the problem."

He said his taxi was just pulling out from a green light when it was struck by a white blur, which he believed was driven by an elderly woman.

Police attended the accident.

McMillan, who said both vehicles were left in the middle of the road, hoped the other driver was not hurt. As for his chances of being able to play yesterday if the rain had cleared, McMillan said he would have been fine because the dodgy finger had improved quickly.

For all that, he had been sidelined by hand injuries in the past and was apprehensive as his injury was assessed, fearing the worst.

"I was a bit worried as I headed in, because it was sore and most of the other times I had gone in for an x-ray it had turned out positive, so this was a real relief. I've been icing it regularly. It's a little bit stiff, but it's fine. It's already a lot better than it was a couple of hours ago."

McMillan has an outstanding record at WestpacTrust Park, scoring 434 runs at 72.33 in four tests, including a whirlwind 98 against the Pakistanis last summer.

He said he now wanted to cap it with a century.

"I love playing at home and I love playing at Hamilton in particular. Every time I play here I seem to score runs, but what I'd really like to get is a century."

Nearly 12 hours of rain fell in Hamilton yesterday. It started in the early hours and did not stop until 2.30 pm when the outfield was sodden and the covers brimming with water.

Umpires Dave Orchard, of South Africa, and New Zealand's Tony Hill - still waiting to make his test debut - spoke to groundsman Doug Strachan and New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming before calling play off just before 3 pm.

There was no rain for the rest of the day and there is optimism that the ground will be fit for an earlier, 11.30 am, start today.

Play will run until 7.30 pm to try to make up some of yesterday's lost time.