Cricket: Wounded Stags offer opportunity

Heinrich Malan

The injury list to the Central Districts Stags' squad members has an A and E Department look about it.

Black Caps allrounder Doug Bracewell (broken right foot), NZ A batsman Carl Cachopa (hamstring), Ben Wheeler (side strain), Bevan Small (groin injury), Adam Milne (abdominal strain).

"Dougie's in a moon boot and he's out for six to eight weeks, so his season's over," the Devon Hotel-sponsored CD coach, Heinrich Malan, said last night before the third-placed Stags play the Canterbury Wizards in a season-defining four-day Plunket Shield match at Rangiora.

Malan said team physiotherapist Justin Mills, of Cape Physio, would be working weekly with Bracewell, who has hogged the sporting headlines nationally for a fair share of this week after revelations he and ex-Hawke's Bay cricketer Jesse Ryder had broken team protocol on the eve of the first test in Auckland.

While it's still not known how Bracewell broke his foot, suffice it to say the Black Caps have read the riot act to the pair.

However, the absence of frontliners means it's an opportune time for those skirting on the boundary of selection or in the tier below to make a statement.

Enter batsman Dean Robinson in a straight swap with Cachopa at first drop, while Roald Badenhorst returns from Manawatu's Hawke Cup challenge duty with left-arm medium-fast bowler Caleb Gaylard into the CD equation for the match at Mainpower Oval.

Having beaten second-placed Otago by 134 runs, the Kieran Noema-Barnett defending champions have well and truly risen from the dead this summer as they seek a third win in first-class cricket.

In an intriguing stage of the competition, no side is mathematically out of the running going into round nine.

Otago Volts, who host the Auckland Aces, are 18 points behind the Wizards in a bid to etch their name on the shield for the first time in 25 years.

The Northern Districts Knights host the Wellington Firebirds in Whangarei.

Wellington-born Gaylard, 23, of Palmerston North, is reaping the benefits of performing well at the NZ Provincial Tournament in Christchurch.

"It's my first time [in the Stags squad] so I'm stoked. That's why you play cricket," says the sports-turf management worker at the New Zealand Rugby Institute based at Massey University for the past four years.

Gaylard, who plays for Horowhenua-Kapiti at provincial level, hoped to be named in the squad today.

"There's a little bit of green on the pitch but it should flatten out pretty well," he said, begging the question whether two spinners, Tarun Nethula and Ajaz Patel, would be required after the previous round.

While he is a new-ball merchant, Gaylard doesn't have any qualms about fitting into the Malan matrix if picked.

"I'm happy to take my chances at first change or wherever," says the man who has injected variation to his natural inswingers to right-hand batsmen.

Gaylard, surprisingly, only started playing backyard cricket when he was 15.

"I always had soccer, which ran throughout the year," said the ex-national under-15 rep who plays in the men's club competition.

"This winter I want to go to England to play senior club cricket."

Points with two rounds remaining: Canterbury 85, Otago 67, Central Districts 63, Wellington 60, Auckland 55, Northern Districts 51.