Adam Parore: A leader waiting in the wings

COMMENT

Australian cricketers have a philosophy about how they rate opponents.

In their eyes, it's all very well making runs or taking wickets against other nations, but it's how you perform against Australia that decides whether they give you respect.

They are having their first look at Jacob Oram in the test arena at Brisbane this week and I'm certain, irrespective of how the rest of the test pans out, he will have earned a measure of respect already.

His unbeaten 126 was just what New Zealand needed, in the sense of announcing they will be competitive in this test and in terms of this series as a whole.

Aussies like players with ticker, so Oram should have caught their eye after his deeds of the last two days. He was without question the star turn at the Gabba, his batting rescuing what was fast turning into a flop.

Yesterday he carried on where he left off on Thursday and got a richly deserved second test century with a mix of sound defence and bludgeoning stroke play.

I was also impressed by his cool head at a demanding time. You can see why people have been talking about him as a captain-in-waiting for the national side.

We were team-mates in the early days of his international career, going back to his debut one-day international in Wellington in January 2001.

Back then he was quiet, one of the new boys, understandably intent on trying to cement a place in the set-up.

Now he's become an important ingredient in the side, especially with Chris Cairns now restricting himself to the one-dayers. I've got no doubt that in time he will fill a batting role within the top six and it could be that his lively medium-pace bowling becomes a bonus.

It is rare to have a player who can perform full-on in both disciplines at the highest level. Put it this way: Cairns is the only one I can think of in New Zealand teams who could open the bowling or come on as first change, and bat in the top six over a lengthy period of time.

Even Sir Richard Hadlee rarely, if ever, batted higher than No 7.

Has Oram the right personality and temperament to be a skipper? I suspect the jury is still out, although I would suggest he is more of a leader than a follower.

He is not a loud, table-thumping type. His style is more to let his performances speak for themselves.

There can be no complaints on that score. Going into the first test, Oram averaged 40.80 in 15 tests and he had taken 35 wickets. I reckon this is going to be a crucial summer in the big lefthander's development, and he's made a strong start.

The other New Zealand batsmen did not begin the series the way they would have wanted, although I was impressed with Mathew Sinclair.

His 69 showed he can be patient.

He copped the odd blow around the shoulders, but he won't be alone among the New Zealand batsmen in getting that treatment this summer.

He made a bucket of runs on New Zealand A's tour of South Africa, took his chance with a late call-up to Bangladesh, and made the most of the warm-up game against New South Wales last week with a strong double of 88 and 79.

* Adam Parore is a former New Zealand wicketkeeper