Cricket: NZ's fragile stars finding form in training sessions

Source / Herald Graphic

A decision will be made by the end of the week on whether all of New Zealand's "fragile five" will be fit for the Twenty20 world championships in the West Indies.

The 11 squad members not involved in the Indian Premier League left for Brisbane on Sunday evening, with coach Mark Greatbatch saying the injured players had hit their rehab targets in recent weeks.

Jacob Oram (knee), Jesse Ryder (stomach), Ian Butler (groin), Kyle Mills (knee and shoulder) and Aaron Redmond (groin) have all missed significant chunks of cricket last season, but have been picked for the championships in the belief they will be fit and firing by the end of the month.

However, standby players Brent Arnel, Jeetan Patel and Andy McKay have flown to Brisbane to train in case they are required to travel to the West Indies.

New Zealand's first match is against Sri Lanka in Guyana on April 30.

"In the past month, they've been under an extensive rehab and training programme and they've worked their butts off," Greatbatch said. "They've all passed the checkpoints at the moment. There's not going to be any rest so if anyone's not fit enough to travel to the West Indies we'll find out this week."

Greatbatch was not worried that some of his squad would, even if physically fit, be short of cricket, saying the problem was not unique to New Zealand and that the contracted nature of the format made it easier for players to come up to speed.

If that sounds like spin doctoring, it's probably appropriate given the emphasis New Zealand is putting on the slow bowlers before the tournament.

Not only are the surfaces in the West Indies expected to follow the recent trend there of slow and low, but there is a school of thought that spinners are the most effective bowlers in Twenty20, a notion that seems to have been backed up by evidence in the IPL.

Three of the five highest wicket-takers are spinners: Pragyan Ojha, Amit Mishra and Harbhajan Singh. Of the bowlers who have delivered at least 20 overs, three of the five most economical are also spinners.

"Obviously the squad balance we've got - we picked Rob Nicol as another option and we've got Nathan McCullum, Daniel Vettori and Aaron Redmond as well - means that if they are going to turn and be slow there's definitely going to be the option of using more spin," Greatbatch said.

Aucklander Nicol, who now plays his cricket in Canterbury, is the closest to a bolter in the squad. A top-order batsman by trade, he has developed his offspin to a point where it is a legitimate strength in the short formats. His philosophy for bowling in Twenty20 cricket is simple.

"It's just about trying to keep the ball in the park, really," Nicol said. "It's something you can do to keep you in the game and you can express yourself."

Nicol described his call-up as "a little bit of a surprise" and joked it would have been considered off the wall if you had seen him bat a few years ago.

"If people had [told] you a few years ago that I was going to play Twenty20 cricket, you'd have probably laughed. I was bit of a dunny-door man back in the day," he said of his defensive method at the crease.

The chances are Nicol will get limited opportunities in the West Indies, but he will have a week to impress Greatbatch and the rest of the coaching staff in Queensland.

The squad will be based at Sandgate, about 40 minutes out of Brisbane, where bowling coach Shane Jurgensen is based.

"We've got net facilities, we've got open wickets," said Greatbatch, "so we're getting into scrimmaging and playing games of Twenty20 and shorter versions of that."