Cricket: Walker straight into action

JOHANNESBURG - Auckland leg-spinner Brooke Walker may be put straight into action 24 hours after joining the New Zealand cricket tour of South Africa.

Coach David Trist said Walker was likely to play in the limited-over warm-up game against Gauteng in Soweto tonight with a view to his usefulness for the six-match one-day series.

He desperately needs match play but, more importantly, New Zealand are struggling to field 11 fit players for a game they could have done without.

Chris Cairns and Geoff Allott are certain to be rested, while Chris Harris' back problem may also see him spelled ahead of the opening one-day international in Potchefstroom on Friday.

Allrounder Scott Styris also has a back problem, although it was not thought to be serious.

It has meant allrounder Glen Sulzberger - who was due to return home yesterday - has remained for an extra few days as cover.

New Zealand were not saying so, but tonight's game appears more an annoyance than a help.

They had a frantic week in Nairobi, where they beat Zimbabwe, Pakistan and India on the way to their first international tournament title, and Trist is more aware of managing the players' workloads.

He has always rated the ability of the 23-year-old Walker and said he virtually had to play tonight to get straight into the tour.

With the absence of injured star spinner Daniel Vettori, Trist is a fan of retaining someone who turns the ball away from right-handed batsmen, as Walker does.

Walker also bats and fields well, another Trist prerequisite for a new one-day player.

"He has a very good record in one-day cricket, and he's able to come in relatively unknown to the South Africans," Trist said.

Walker toured England with the New Zealand team last year, but appeared to have fallen behind Northern Districts left-armer Bruce Martin in the pecking order.

However, Martin did not impress as much as hoped for on New Zealand A's tour of England this year and appears out of favour.

Walker still has to push out the No 1 spinner, Paul Wiseman.

"In the one-day games there will probably be dry, flat pitches so we'll look to play one of the two spinners," Trist said.

He was quietly reflective after his team's triumph in Nairobi, where the players won $60,700 each.

He said it was good for world cricket to have a side without the playing resources of Australia or South African come through and win.

"We've put ourselves in a position to improve, even with horrendous injuries which in a country such as Australia would not probably be noticeable because of their depth."