Cricket: This is not the end of the road for me says McMillan

Craig McMillan wishes he had been left to bat in one place during his past troubled season when he averaged just eight from five tests and 15.6 from the one-dayers against India and at the World Cup.

But the aggressive Canterbury batsman has vowed to regain his place for the following international tour to India in October.

"I think I've still got a good four or five years left in me and this is definitely not the end of the road. It's just a blip at the moment."

McMillan felt he could have had better results had he remained batting No 4 or No 5 in the one-day team, which is his preferred position and where he was averaging more than 35 for the past 18 months before the home series against India.

"I probably would have been better staying in my spot than going into some of the other trouble spots."

McMillan, 26, was promoted to opener as a stop-gap measure during the World Cup in South Africa when the selectors decided to shift regular opener Nathan Astle to No 3 and Scott Styris moved up to No 4.

"The chopping and changing was frustrating at times, but when it's the World Cup and you want to play, you bat wherever you're asked."

McMillan rejected claims that there were technical deficiencies in his game which needed addressing.

"I've read what some people said, but I've played no differently this season to others when I have been successful."

McMillan said that while he would reassess his game, he would not be making any major changes, but would be in touch with New Zealand coach Denis Aberhart.

New Zealand selection panel convener Sir Richard Hadlee said his conversation advising McMillan he was not in the team was brief.

"But we don't see this as the end for Craig McMillan. We think he will benefit from some time out.

"But he's had a horrific season and for a senior player we expect better."

McMillan said he would take a break from the game for four to six weeks and have a proper honeymoon with wife Cherie.

"I've had cricket pretty full on for the past three years or so and I probably need some time to recharge the batteries."

He is also considering an offer to play for the celebrity Lashings Cricket Club in England later in the Northern Hemisphere summer.

The club, which fellow Cantabrian Chris Harris appeared for last year, will have former internationals Mark Waugh and Curtly Ambrose playing for them, and is reportedly seeking banned Australian leg-spinner Shane Warne for some festival matches.

In Wellington, Richard Jones was so confident of his New Zealand selection he had packed his gear away for the winter and planned an Easter holiday.

No one was as stunned as the man himself when he received the call from Hadlee.

At 29, Jones felt his chances at the top level were slipping away, despite a switch from Auckland to Wellington three years ago.

"After he [Hadlee] said who it was, the rest of the conversation was a bit of a blur," Jones said. "I had my gear in the attic, and I realised I had to change my plans for Easter.

"When you start getting to my age ... I've been down that road so many times and you learn not to put all your eggs in one basket."

Jones, though, was always well in the running for selection with the unavailability of Astle and the scratchy form of McMillan.

He scored 726 runs at 45 an innings in the State Championship this season and unlike his main competition, Tim McIntosh of Auckland, was seen to have the versatility to bat from one to five.

"But I'd bat nine and bowl spin if they wanted me to," Jones said.

The move to Wellington, after his career was floundering in the north, was a defining moment.

Since then he has clocked up 2111 first-class runs at 42.9, a statistic which didn't escape Hadlee.

"The move kickstarted my career, no doubt about it."

Jones has toured India and Pakistan before with age-grade sides, so was keen to complete the subcontinent trifecta.

The only remaining worry for Jones was to ask his boss for time off work at the Glenfield cooling-fan importing business where he works during the winter.

"My employer's pretty good - it's my old man, so I shouldn't have too many problems."

- NZPA