Cricket: Oram enters next stage of comeback

BULAWAYO - Jacob Oram will be more eager than most of his New Zealand teammates to leap across the boundary rope in the first triangular one-day cricket series match against Zimbabwe in Bulawayo on Wednesday.

Allrounder Oram did not play in either of the two test matches against Zimbabwe, and he has been kicking his heels along with the rest of the squad since the second test ended two days early in Bulawayo last week.

"I've been very busy," Oram joked. "I did a lot of shuttle runs on to the field with drinks during the test series, what with all those wickets falling."

Oram last played for the Black Caps on Boxing Day last year in a one-day international against Sri Lanka at Auckland's Eden Park.

A "stress reaction" -- a warning that a stress fracture could be imminent -- was discovered in Oram's spine in January.

It has been a long road back from there, and he reached an important stage in his rehabilitation when he played in the tour one-day match against a Zimbabwe Board 11 in Bulawayo today.

He went wicketless in his seven overs, but kept the runs down to a respectable 25 as the Board 11 totalled a mediocre 193 for eight.

Andre Adams was the pick of the New Zealand attack with sparkling figures of one for 12 from nine overs.

Unfortunately for Oram the batsman, a stand of 108 between Lou Vincent and Stephen Fleming all but settled the issue and he never made it to the crease.

Vincent clipped his 66 off 58 balls with 10 fours and a six, and Fleming needed just 26 balls to score his 47, which included eight fours and a six.

New Zealand rattled along to 196 for two to win by eight wickets with 24.5 overs left unbowled.

Craig McMillan looked in decent nick for his unbeaten 46, and Hamish Marshall was 25 not out.

For Oram, the opportunity to play in a match -- any match -- meant a lot.

"You can do too much in training, and maybe I have been a bit net crazy," he said. "So I've pulled back over the past few days."

Oram's injury prevented him from bowling during much of his rehabilitation, and he was resigned to the fact that his return to the fray would not come before the one-day series.

"I came away from New Zealand knowing I would probably not play in the test matches, but I've been bowling a helluva lot of overs during the past two to three weeks," he said.

At last the end of a bleak period in his career would seem to be in sight.

"While I was injured I could do 95 per cent of the things I needed to do to get through the day, but if you had to ask me to bowl a cricket ball I couldn't do it," he said. "It's pretty frustrating not to be able to do the thing you're paid to do."

Oram acknowledged that cricket fans at home were probably more interested in the games between New Zealand and India, but that was not the way he saw the tournament.

"I'm looking forward to playing against both India and Zimbabwe," he said. "From a personal point of view I need to stake my claim all over again and prove my fitness."

Oram expected India to set New Zealand a stiff challenge.

"(Anil) Kumble and (Zaheer) Khan have been left out, and while I don't know the reasons for that it does surprise me," he said. "But India remain a good side with (Rahul) Dravid, (Yuvraj) Singh and (Virender) Sehwag in there."

Zimbabwe received a fillip when allrounder Andy Blignaut, who missed the test series due to injury, returned to action as captain of the Board 11.

Blignaut has been named in Zimbabwe's squad for the triangular tournament.

- NZPA