Cricket: Drumm heading for milestone

White Ferns batting star Emily Drumm says the prospect of playing her 100th one day cricket international tomorrow added determination to recover from serious injury.

All going well the 31-year-old will reach the milestone against India in the fourth one-dayer at Lincoln.

Drumm, who scored 94 not-out against India yesterday, returned home from the Women's World Cup in South Africa early last year with a serious hamstring injury but after giving it some thought, decided to play on.

Tomorrow's game will see her join Australia's Belinda Clark, fellow New Zealander Debbie Hockley and the England duo of Clare Taylor and Jane Smit as the only players with 100 ODI caps.

"I had mentally decided to finish after the last World Cup," Drumm said yesterday. "It was my fourth (World Cup) and whatever the result it would have been a nice way to finish."

Instead, she was forced to return home after only two games.

"It was a major low and I couldn't finish that way. I had given too much to walk away so I decided to give it another nudge and 100 caps was a motivation to get there."

Drumm is also the fourth-highest run-scorer in ODI history but was keen to stress that figures were not the be-all and end-all for her.

"It is something I am very proud about and I feel a real sense of achievement but I do not play with statistics in mind," she said.

Winning cups and trophies was the main aim, but she also wanted to keep up a good personal record.

Drumm said she was uncertain what her sporting future held.

"But in a week's time I will be back at work (as an account manager for Konika Minolta) making up for the two weeks I have taken off here," she said. "Nowadays I just take it very much season by season."

- NZPA