Cricket: Full steam ahead

Jacob Oram says the Black Caps wouldn't contemplate taking the foot off the accelerator and treating the three one-dayers against the World XI as festival games.

New Zealand will face a Shane Warne-led World Invitation XI starting on January 22 to replace the series against Sri Lanka, postponed after the devastation caused by the Boxing Day tsunami.

Oram said that while the World XI games were a different proposition to official ODIs, they would do everything they could to win.

"The quality of the opposition is so strong that if we let our guard down and get a bit complacent there's every chance they could run all over us," Oram said.

"With Australia around the corner, we can't afford to back down from what has been a very successful last 12 months. Momentum plays a huge role in the one-day game and ... it might be quite a hard thing to find again."

The Black Caps were the world's best in the shortened version of the game last year, recording close to a 90 per cent win ratio.

Oram said that it was a reflection of the healthy state of one-day cricket that Stephen Fleming, Chris Cairns and Daniel Vettori were not only selected for the Rest of the World side to face Asia in the tsunami relief game, but that they were standout performers.

Cairns knocked a blistering 69 off 47 balls, Fleming hit 30 off 28 and Vettori chimed in with 27 runs off 17 balls and a tidy return of 3-58 off 10 overs.

"It's great for the guys to get recognised and actually go out there and perform," Oram said.

"Shane Bond and Daryl Tuffey might have gone close as well if they'd been fit, so that's a good sign. Our results over the past 12 months have shown that we're in the top two or three in the world."

The 26-year-old is confident he'll be fit to face the World XI despite withdrawing from the Central Districts side for their top-of-the-table State Championship match with Auckland, which started yesterday, because of a back strain sustained while bowling against Wellington last Sunday.

"I saw a physician and we're confident it's not bone related," he said. "It's more likely a ligament or muscle which needs rest."

"It was disappointing to miss out on the Central game, but we had to look at it from the bigger picture and realise there's a lot of cricket this summer."

- HERALD ON SUNDAY