KEY POINTS:
New Zealand will play the Australian Prime Minister's XI for the fourth time at Canberra's Manuka Oval in January.
The match on January 29 will lead into their five-game Chappell Hadlee ODI series against the Australians.
New Zealand have won two of the previous three games against the PM's selection, with the other abandoned. It will be the first time the PM's XI has played New Zealand since 2001-02, when the tourists had a comfortable four-wicket win.
The Chappell Hadlee series starts in Perth on February 1, with games to follow in Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide and Brisbane, with the trip finishing with a Twenty20 international at Sydney on February 15.
And New Zealand will be hopeful of having big allrounder Jacob Oram fit for the match after getting an encouraging outcome to his troublesome back in Christchurch yesterday.
An MRI scan on his back, which he damaged during the first test win over Bangladesh last week, has revealed no serious damage.
Oram heads back to the gym today to start his rehabilitation.
"It is reassuring to know that it is only a soft tissue injury," Oram said last night. "I have had some major lower-back problems over my career and while you are always hopeful that the latest problem is not a pointer to something more serious, you can never be certain."
He will be reassessed in a week by New Zealand Cricket medical staff to find out when he is able to return to the bowling crease.
* Former New Zealand allrounder Chris Cairns has been suspended from the Indian Cricket League. Cairns and former Indian player Dinesh Mongia were banned from the Chandigarh Lions on disciplinary grounds, although the ICL would not be more specific.
According to the Indian Express newspaper, it was for under-performing and failure to clarify an injury situation.
- AGENCIES