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Australia skipper won’t play in Tasmania’s Shield clash against WA; will instead play club cricket and in Tasmania’s Second XI against South Australia

Alex Malcolm17-Nov-2021Australia captain Tim Paine is set to go into the Ashes series without a first-class fixture under his belt but he is set to play club cricket and second XI cricket for Tasmania over the next week before Australia’s intra-squad clash in Brisbane ahead of the Gabba Test.Paine is recovering from neck surgery he had in September and has not played at all yet this summer. His last competitive game was in April.Related

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• Tim Paine details invasive neck surgery, confident for Ashes return

He was hopeful of playing up to four full matches, including a Shield game, before the first Ashes Test at the Gabba in December.Rain last week washed out any hopes of playing for his club side University of Tasmania. He is now set to play on the first day of their clash with South Hobart Sandy Bay on Saturday, but he won’t take part in Tasmania’s Shield clash against Western Australia, starting on Sunday.He will instead play in Tasmania’s Second XI team in a four-day game against South Australia which is scheduled to begin on Monday. Paine will also have the chance to play in the intra-squad clash in Brisbane starting on December 1.Australia’s chairman of selectors George Bailey was not concerned about Paine’s preparation.”Just get some cricket under his belt, which we’re really confident he’s going to get back this weekend,” Bailey said on Wednesday. “And I think from all reports, surgery has gone really well. He’s feeling really, really confident. I think they’ve actually had to hold him back a little bit in the last couple of weeks to make sure the actual healing process has gone well and now it’s just a matter of actually getting some game time under his belt, so he’s really confident and really excited to be leading the team come the first day at the Gabba.”Paine will turn 37 on the opening day of the Ashes series and told last week that he has not given any consideration to his future beyond this summer.Alex Carey and Josh Inglis have both been named in the Australia A squad on Wednesday but Alex Carey is expected to be the second wicketkeeper in the intra-squad match and the Australia A wicketkeeper, and possibly captain, for the England Lions game starting in December. Inglis is set to play as a batter given he was part of the group that was required to do 14-day quarantine on the way back from the T20 World Cup in the UAE and is likely to head back to Perth Scorchers for the start of the BBL.

Imran Tahir, who had stayed back in Pakistan after the PSL, will take part in the T20 tournament

Firdose Moonda28-Jul-2020No South African player apart from Imran Tahir will take part in this year’s Caribbean Premier League, which is due to start on August 18. Rassie van der Dussen, Tabraiz Shamsi, Anrich Nortje, Rilee Rossouw and Colin Ingram were unable to confirm travel arrangements in time to be in Trinidad by August 1, when CPL organisers wanted all participating players to arrive in order to fulfil a 14-day quarantine period before the tournament begins.While the CPL had organised a charter flight from London to Trinidad, the South African players were unable to get to the UK in time bearing in mind flight scarcity, visa requirements and the obligation to receive government permission. Tahir has not been in South Africa through the lockdown but in Pakistan, where he was playing in the PSL, and has been able to travel to the West Indies from there.There will be no English players in the competition either, with Harry Gurney and Alex Hales both withdrawing after signing for Barbados Tridents. Both players had hoped to play the first handful of games before returning to the UK for the T20 Blast on August 27, but the requirement of a strict, 14-day quarantine period and the competition’s respective dates prevented that from being a realistic option.South Africa remains in lockdown with all provincial and international borders closed and is expected to only begin easing travel restrictions after the coronavirus pandemic peak passes at the end of September. That means the participation of South African players in the IPL is also awaiting logistical checks, chiefly government permission. Similar permission is being sought for the national women’s team, who are due to play a series in England in September.While Cricket South Africa will issue its players with no-objection certificates, and does not intend to organise any bilateral cricket during the IPL window, players will need to obtain permits to travel and will need to consider quarantine regulations. The tournament is expected to take place from September 19 to November 8, which could mean that South African players will be required to be away from home from early September until early November, given pre-tournament training and quarantines.There is also the possibility that they will need to isolate for a further 14 days on their return home. As David Warner said, with families unlikely to be able to accompany players and tours made longer by quarantine periods, several players may need to consider their personal circumstances before committing to travel.South Africa has ten players contracted with IPL teams, and two of them – AB de Villiers and Faf du Plessis – have babies on the way. Earlier, three players missed the 3TC exhibition match. Chris Morris was unavailable for personal reasons, Kagiso Rabada missed the fixture following the death of a family member, and Quinton de Kock pulled out because a close family member tested positive for Covid-19. The men’s team has not had any official training camps since the lockdown began in March but continue to train individually or at their franchise grounds.

They need to win both their remaining games to retain a chance of qualifying, while RCB need a miracle

The Preview by Ankur Dhawan29-Apr-20195:32

Kartik: Oshane Thomas has been a good enough replacement for Archer

Big picture

There’s a sense of deja vu as Royal Challengers meet Rajasthan Royals, although the roles have reversed from last year. For one, this is a home game for Royal Challengers. As things stand, it could be they who snap the thread by which the visitors’ playoff hopes hang. Not that Royal Challengers don’t stand a mathematical chance of qualifying themselves, but it’d require the kind of miracle that’s more suitable for fantasy fiction.Royals are coming off back-to-back wins, the first time they have been able to do so all tournament, and encouragingly, they have achieved this without Jos Buttler (both games), Ben Stokes and Jofra Archer (both didn’t feature in the second win). The loss of Steven Smith’s leadership is nigh, but not just yet. Their power and touch players alike should enjoy the true surface in Bengaluru, quick bowlers Oshane Thomas and Varun Aaron may not detest it either, and Shreyas Gopal should feel at home. However, they can’t afford leaking runs through sloppy fielding as they did against Sunrisers at home, and despite a player-of-the-match performance last match, Jaydev Unadkat’s dependence on cutters could be tested here.What Royals need is two straight wins; over a team that’s virtually out of contention and perhaps as a result with less to play for, and then over Delhi Capitals, who might have their guard down having already qualified for the playoffs. They shouldn’t expect any favours from either team, and will also need to keep an eye on their net run rate, should they end up tied on 14 points with other contenders.Of course, Royals’ best-case scenario would be to win both matches, and to hope that Sunrisers, Kings XI and Knight Riders all finish on 12 points each, rendering net run-rates irrelevant.

Form guide

Royal Challengers Bangalore: lost to Delhi Capitals by 16 runs, beat Kings XI by 17 runs, beat Super Kings by 1 run
Rajasthan Royals: beat Sunrisers by seven wickets, beat Knight Riders by three wickets, lost to Capitals by six wickets

Previous meeting

Both teams came into the contest winless and it was Royals who had points on the table at the end of it, as Shreyas Gopal spun a web around the Royal Challengers batting line-up. With healthy contributions from their top four, Royals, chasing 159, got over the line with one ball to spare.

Likely XIs

Royal Challengers Bangalore: 1 Virat Kohli (capt), 2 Parthiv Patel (wk), 3 AB de Villiers, 4 Heinrich Klaasen/Shimron Hetmyer, 5 Shivam Dube, 6 Marcus Stoinis, 7 Gurkeerat Singh, 8 Washington Sundar, 9 Umesh Yadav, 10 Yurzvendra Chahal, 11 Navdeep SainiRajasthan Royals: 1 Ajinkya Rahane, 2 Liam Livingstone, 3 Steven Smith (capt), 4 Sanju Samson (wk), 5 Ashton Turner, 6 Riyan Parag, 7 Stuart Binny, 8 Shreyas Gopal, 9 Jaydev Unadkat, 10 Varun Aaron, 11 Oshane ThomasSanju Samson flicks•BCCI

Strategy punt

• Marcus Stoinis’ demotion to No. 7 in the match against Delhi Capitals was surprising and arguably impacted the eventual outcome. He averages 71 and has a strike rate of 154 at No. 4 this year, his best in any position. He also finds the boundary once every four balls in this position. Royal Challengers would do well to elevate him.
• Since IPL 2017, Sanju Samson has scored at his slowest against offspin and legspin with a strike-rate of 117. The frequency with which he finds the boundary against these two types of bowling is also his lowest at 12.1 and 9.8 respectively. This suggests that Royal Challengers could have the combination of Yuzvendra Chahal and Washington Sundar bowling to him in tandem.

Stats that matter

• This will be Steven Smith’s 50th match as captain in all T20s.
• Yuzvendra Chahal needs two wickets to get to 100 in the IPL.
• Virat Kohli needs one win to bring up 50 wins in the IPL as captain.
• Ajinkya Rahane needs 14 runs for 5000 runs in T20s

Former board member warns that key principles of county game are at stake as he elaborates on stinging criticism of ECB

George Dobell08-Mar-2018The ECB could be moving towards a system featuring only eight fully-professional first-class teams, Andy Nash has warned.Nash, who resigned from the ECB Board on Wednesday citing his concerns over the standard of corporate governance, has now warned that one of the key principles at the heart of the game in England and Wales – an equal share of revenues – is under threat.Talking to BBC Somerset, Nash warned that ‘compensation’ payments planned for the Test-hosting grounds in years when they do not host Tests – understood to amount to £500,000 a year – illustrated “what the ECB’s direction of travel is”.As a former chairman of Somerset, Nash was never personally convinced by the virtues of the new-team T20 competition – though he was persuaded to vote for its approval – on the grounds that it might exclude counties like his that will not (at least in the medium term) host matches. But the possibility that non-Test-hosting grounds might be further disadvantaged by a disparity in funding has increased his alarm.”It suggests we’re moving towards favouring an elite band of eight teams rather than treating 18 fairly,” Nash said. “And that is not something I could reconcile my conscience to.”There are 18 counties (plus the MCC) and historically they’ve always shared equally as funds come in from ECB from various sources. What we’ve read about is very different and strikes at the very heart of what the ECB’s direction of travel is.”It is a very, very important issue that goes right to the heart of cricket in England and Wales. And that is the county system.”The ECB claim the compensation payments were, at this stage, only a discussion topic for a working party and insist that the idea would have been put to the board before any payments were made. It appears, however, that at least one county has already received a payment and at least a couple of others have been led to expect them and budgeted accordingly.”It is a very a substantial development,” Nash said. “And it’s clearly something that should have been discussed by the board before it got anywhere near the public domain.”If, as directors, you’re learning about such things through the media then there’s something very wrong.”I’m professional non-executive director. And it’s been a great privilege to serve the ECB for the last five years. Usually that role is one of support and guidance to executive colleagues. But occasionally challenge is very important, too.”Our responsibilities are prescribed by law. To be able to discharge those responsibilities, an organisation must have in place effective corporate governance. The board is responsible for the organisation and, to perform that to a satisfactory level, it must be well appraised. It must have the right information.”Ultimately corporate governance has to be at a level where you can discharge your fiduciary responsibilities. Regretfully I came to the conclusion that I was unable to do that.”You don’t call out a national governing body lightly. But ultimately you have to be prepared to do that. As I woke this morning and the consequences of my decision sunk in, I’m happy I did the right thing. My moral compass is in a good place.”Nash’s words will do nothing to dissuade those who fear the ECB has an unpublished agenda to reduce the number of first-class counties that it is trying to introduce through stealth.

Even team-mates may not have known much about Kusal Mendis when he debuted for Sri Lanka in October 2015, so limited had his exposure been to senior cricket

Andrew Fidel Fernando in Cape Town31-Dec-2016Even team-mates may not have known much about Kusal Mendis when he debuted for Sri Lanka in October 2015, so limited had his exposure been to senior cricket. Mendis had played in 10 first-class matches before playing a Test. He was 20 at the time. If West Indies (his first opponent) wanted footage of his batting for scouting purposes, they would have had to go digging.Fourteen months on, things have changed. Mendis played arguably the best Test innings of the year, against Australia, in Pallekele. But opponents now know he tends to nick off outside off stump early in his innings. Importantly, Mendis also knows that they know.”Well, as soon as we come to cricket bowlers don’t know your weak points,” he said. “They’ll watch videos of us, like we do of them. They’ll work out a batsman’s weaknesses – so they would have of mine as well. So we need to evolve and fix our mistakes. Otherwise it’s difficult. If we do the same thing you get out.”I’ve definitely worked on the problem of being caught behind a lot with the coach at training. The main thing is to stop playing that shot in certain situations. Not to do away with it completely, but maybe in the first few overs I’ll refrain from playing it. After I get a few runs and feel comfortable, maybe I can use it. There’s no major technical adjustment or anything. It’s just a shot selection thing. It’s important also not to impose a rule on yourself that you absolutely can’t play a shot. It depends on the situation.”Mendis nicked off attempting a booming off drive on zero in the first innings at Port Elizabeth, but produced a higher-quality innings in the second dig, when he made a boundary-laden 58 off 90 balls. His dismissal, however, cut short perhaps Sri Lanka’s most promising partnership of the match. He and Angelo Mathews had put on 75 from 108 balls, while very faint hopes of a successful chase of 488 still held out.”After I got out in the first innings the seniors spoke to me a lot. They came and told me not to be too disappointed, and that I have another innings, and to hit a big one there. I tried to avoid being caught behind and scored runs off shots I felt were safe. I was desperate to make runs in the second innings. I hadn’t planned on scoring quickly, actually. It just happened that way.”But I wasn’t able to hit a big innings in the end. I had the opportunity to hit a 100 or 150, but I didn’t take it. I think my getting out was terrible for the team, in that situation.”Sri Lanka now move to Newlands, where the surface is expected to be more seam friendly than it had been at Port Elizabeth. Among their primary aims will be neutralising the pace trio of Kagiso Rabada, Kyle Abbott and Vernon Philander, who took 15 wickets at a combined average of 23.40 in the first Test.”All three of their quicks are very good. We knew they’d played very well against Australia, which we had as well,” Mendis said. “They are in form. It’s not that they are too tough for us or anything – they just did their jobs better than us in the last Test. They did that really well. We’ve faced them now. All we’ve got to do is practice and play better in the next match.”

After he was forced to wait for the toss for 26 minutes by Sylhet Superstars captain Mushfiqur Rahim as two of his players did not have NOCs, Tamim alleged that he was abused

Mohammad Isam in Mirpur23-Nov-2015Chittagong Vikings captain Tamim Iqbal had a placid expression as he waited 26 minutes for the toss to happen against Sylhet Superstars, whose captain Mushfiqur Rahim was delayed as a result of two of his players not having NOCs.Then, while walking out to open with Tillakaratne Dilshan, Tamim was left confused as he spotted Josh Cobb and Ravi Bopara in the Sylhet team. The pair did not feature in the team list that was given to him at the toss. Somebody then informed Tamim that they had the “permission” but Tamim wanted confirmation and walked off with Dilshan.”I didn’t know at first why the toss was delayed, so I asked the match referee [Raqibul Hasan],” Tamim said. “He informed me that the technical committee has raised questions about some of their players. I didn’t have a problem waiting to do the toss. It was supposed to take place at 1.40pm [the match referee is understood to have told both captains that the toss would initially be delayed by 10 minutes because of the NOC issue] but it eventually took place at 1.55pm [1.56pm]. The match referee and the technical committee member said that a player without NOC cannot play the match.”I saw the team list which had Munaweera and Mendis [as the only foreign players]. Normally there are three copies of the players’ list but I saw only one. The match referee told me that they will send it to me after the toss. When we went to bat, I saw they had four foreign players. I asked what happened here? They said there’s permission. But I left the field and everyone came down; the match referee, umpires and board [members] were all there. The match took place later, as you saw.”Mushfiqur, however, didn’t come forward with an explanation of the issue. He kept repeating that he wasn’t the person to be answering questions about why Sylhet went onto the field with two players who were not named in the playing XI at the toss, and why his signature wasn’t at the bottom of the players’ list that was handed out to the opposition captain. Mushfiqur said he signed a team sheet, but that had not been sent to the scorers or the press box.”There is no use asking me a question about this subject,” he said. “I did what we were supposed to do. I followed the instructions. I was told to do the toss, I did. The coach and I selected the XI.”Possibly there was miscommunication from all sides. I think they have to investigate the matter. They can answer you, there’s no point asking me. My signature was in the team list. I can’t do the toss without a signed playing XI. The match referee can tell you why the toss was delayed. My job was to do the toss. He said come after 10 minutes, and that’s what I did.”When Tamim walked back towards the dressing room to know who gave Sylhet the go-ahead to field Cobb and Bopara after their names had not been listed in the team sheet, discussions were already taking place between the BPL officials, franchise owners and officials from both sides near the boundary at the Grandstand.As Tamim sat down, the Sylhet Superstars’ owner Azizul Islam went up to him and a heated exchange between the two ensued. Later, at the end of the game, Tamim alleged that he was abused.”I want to say something to everyone: the national cricketers have to be respected. You can’t treat them like beggars because you have money. I have come here to play, not to listen to your abuse about my family.”I respected him enough by calling him ‘sir’,” Tamim said. He asked me to stand up and talk to him, I did. But then he said something very unpleasant about my family. I have seen richer owners in the IPL and I saw how they valued the cricketers. I don’t want to name him. You saw him.”Tamim said he hoped that the BCB would take action, besides admitting that he wasn’t in the “mentality to play” after the delayed start. Tamim, however, managed to make his second successive half-century, which set up Vikings’ narrow win. “I feel I am a part of the BCB whose disciplinary committee will take action,” Tamim said. If they keep treating us like beggars then we should just stop playing cricket. I didn’t have the mentality to play, after all this happened. I am lucky to have played such an innings.”

Amit Mishra, Ashok Dinda and Shami Ahmed are expected to miss out when India name their Champions Trophy squad on Saturday

Amol Karhadkar03-May-2013Three bowlers that featured in India’s squad during the home ODIs series against England in January are likely to miss out on the Champions Trophy, to be played in England from June 5.Legspinner Amit Mishra, one of the stars of the current season of the IPL, is set to be a casualty along with Bengal pace duo of Ashok Dinda and Shami Ahmed when the selectors name the squad in Mumbai on Saturday evening.While fast bowler Umesh Yadav is certain to return to international cricket after breaking down with a lower back injury during the first Test against England last November, Vinay Kumar and Irfan Pathan are front-runners in what would be a five-man pace bowling attack.With the conditions in England not favouring spin, Mishra, who was the reserve spinner for the England ODIs, is likely to miss the cut with R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja available. While Vinay has been ignored by the national selectors since the last year’s Asia Cup in March, Irfan broke down after returning from India’s limited-overs tour to Sri Lanka in July-August last year.This would mean that in the absence of Zaheer Khan, who hasn’t recovered from side strain, India would be able to field the seam attack of Yadav, Ishant Sharma and Bhuvneshwar Kumar with Vinay and Pathan being the back-up bowlers. Both Vinay and Irfan have had an impressive IPL campaign so far, and one of them will lose out on a plane to England only if the selectors decide to stick with Ahmed. Dinda, having had a horrendous run with the ball for Pune Warriors, especially in the death overs, is all but certain to be axed from the 15-member squad.In the batting unit, the only major change is likely to be Shikhar Dhawan replacing Cheteshwar Pujara. Having recovered from the fracture that he suffered during his memorable Test debut, Dhawan is all set for another stint in the shorter version. Dhawan, who last featured in an ODI almost two years ago, hasn’t done much of note during his five ODI appearances.Despite being under pressure to retain their places in the squad, opener Gautam Gambhir and Yuvraj Singh are likely to return their places in the squad.

Yuvraj Singh has said that Virat Kohli is a “very special kid” and that he had learnt a lot from the early years of Kohli’s career

Sharda Ugra in Delhi11-Apr-2012Yuvraj Singh has said that Virat Kohli is a “very special kid” and that he had learnt a lot from the early years of Kohli’s career. “Since the time he has joined the Indian team, I saw his work ethic and I wished and wondered why I didn’t have that work ethic when I was his age,” Yuvraj said during his first media conference on returning to India after receiving treatment in the USA for a rare cancer.Kohli has come to represent the most promising face of Indian cricket currently and was even appointed vice-captain ahead of Gautam Gambhir for the recent Asia Cup. At the start of the 2000s, after he made his ODI debut for India, it was Yuvraj who belonged in those shoes. He was asked as to what his advice would be to Kohli to prevent him from repeating the mistakes Yuvraj himself may have made ten years ago.As the question ended, a grin broke out on Yuvraj’s face and his reply in Hindi was completely tongue-in-cheek. “” roughly translates as a description of Kohli being both the next big thing in cricket as well as quite a character.More seriously, Yuvraj said that Kohli was a “very special kid” and “really talented”. “Actually I have learnt a lot from him,” Yuvraj said. “His work ethic is brilliant, his focus is immense. Since the time he has joined the Indian team, I saw his work ethic and wished and wondered why I didn’t have that work ethic when I was his age.” Yuvraj said he talked a lot to Kohli because he had realised that for an Indian cricketer, early success made his 20s “a very vulnerable age.” “When you get success in your 20s, you can get vulnerable and it can affect your focus. So I try and help him with whatever I can… at times you have to keep him in check, under control sometimes.”Kohli’s tally of 11 ODI centuries in 85 ODIs over a four-year period was “a phenomenal record,” according to Yuvraj. He said he wished he could have had such a record, “but unfortunately I batted down the order, but he is a very special player in the making.” Yuvraj was happy to see Kohli being made India vice-captain at a young age and said, “I hope he goes up the ladder stronger and stronger. I am very happy for his success.”Edited by Abhishek Purohit

Chennai grabbed a two-run last-ball victory over Kolkata in the opening game of the season

The Bulletin by Siddarth Ravindran08-Apr-2011
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Yusuf Pathan’s dismissal was the start of Kolkata’s slide from a winning position•AFP

With the country still basking in the afterglow of a World Cup win, the IPL needed a nailbiter to grab the already sated fans’ attention and there was one at the MA Chidambaram Stadium. Three-quarters through the game, Kolkata Knight Riders were walking to victory before a brilliant run-out from MS Dhoni helped Chennai Super Kings stay in it. Then, Jacques Kallis holed out attempting a cute paddle-sweep, Eoin Morgan was undone by the part-time spin of Suresh Raina, and Gautam Gambhir added another chapter to his book of crazy running to leave the capacity Chennai crowd sensing victory.Even after the big guns of the Kolkata batting were gone, the target wasn’t exactly out of reach. Though one more of Dhoni’s gambles paid off with two massive wickets – Morgan and Gambhir – falling in Raina’s 17th over, Kolkata still needed 33 off the final three overs. That boiled down to an even more difficult 26 off 12 deliveries after Tim Southee showed off his death-over skills with a tight over.Time for another swing in the game as Suraj Randiv, on IPL debut, was hammered by Manoj Tiwary, the biggest name from Bengal in the side after the exit of Sourav Ganguly. After Laxmi Ratan Shukla’s plucky reverse-sweep fetched him a boundary off the first ball, Tiwary slammed a couple of big leg-side sixes bring it down to nine off eight. Kolkata favourites at that stage.To Randiv’s credit, he fought back with the final two deliveries of the over. He switched to round the wicket and fired it quicker and wider on the penultimate ball, and then got the breakthrough on the last delivery, sneaking it past the outside edge to give Dhoni an easy stumping.The tension-filled final over started with an outrageous stroke from Shukla, paddling a full ball from way outside off to square leg for a couple. Off Southee’s next ball Shukla was caught at short-third man, leaving two new batsmen at the crease, and five needed off three. Iqbal Abdulla slapped one over midwicket for two, before Southee resorted to inch-perfect yorkers. It came down to four required off the final delivery; after prolonged discussions with the captain, Southee sent down an into-the-legs yorker which was too good for Rajat Bhatia. Only a single resulted and Dhoni’s charmed run as captain continued.A close game seemed unlikely when Kallis had been giving another demonstration of how Twenty20 batting doesn’t need power-hitting. He capitalised when the bowler erred, highlighted by the fourth over from Southee. The bowler was too wide once, too short once and too straight once; each time Kallis dispatched him for boundaries, and as he guided Kolkata to 92 for 1 in 12 overs, Chennai’s total seemed completely inadequate.Chennai’s strong batting hadn’t made the most of a generous Kolkata fielding performance and the innocuous attack, which lacked any world-class bowlers. S Anirudha and Suresh Raina capitalised on three dropped chances to power Chennai to a strong 78 for 1, before Raina fell attempting a slog sweep. That slowed the pace down, and despite a six each from MS Dhoni and Anirudha off an over from legspinner Sarabjit Ladda, only 43 came between the 11th and 16th overs.Chennai needed some big hits towards the end, but a series of slower bouncers from L Balaji and Kallis kept the runs in check. Albie Morkel showed off his strength hitting down the ground, muscling a four and a six off the final two deliveries to lift the score past 150. It hadn’t seemed enough, but Chennai’s spinners thrived on the turn available to ensure the new-look Kolkata side didn’t get off to a winning start.

Jacob Oram’s catalogue of serious injuries is wearing him down but the lure of the World Twenty20 has motivated another comeback

Peter English21-Apr-2010Jacob Oram’s catalogue of serious injuries is wearing him down but the lure of the World Twenty20 has motivated another comeback. A torn patella tendon in the first ODI against Australia last month ruled him out of the IPL, where his price tag was US$675,000, and continued a desperate battle with his body.Oram, speaking at New Zealand’s training camp in Australia, said he is “good to go” for the Twenty20 tournament, which is a relief to himself and the side. In form Oram is one of the game’s most brutal hitters and a useful medium pacer, but he has been hampered by injuries – back, calf and Achilles problems occurred before the latest setback – throughout his career.”The knee is alright, at the moment there are no problems,” Oram told Cricinfo. “It’s nearly six weeks now since I was hurt, but it could have been a lot worse. It could have been four to six months instead of four to six weeks. It’s still been hellishly frustrating, especially missing the Australian series, which is the big one.”There was also the financial pain of losing his huge IPL fee, but throughout his rehabilitation he remained focussed on the event in the Caribbean. New Zealand open the tournament when they face Sri Lanka in Guyana on April 30 and back up against Zimbabwe on May 4.”The carrot for me was the World Twenty20, which is still a massive event, so I pinned my hopes to that,” he said. “I’ve had to start looking at the big picture. Three or four years ago I used to rush back and it doubled or tripled the time out. This time it hasn’t been like a winter break and I’m looking forward to more.”During the lay-off he was at home with his wife and six-month old son and the 31-year-old knows his life is changing. He has already retired from Tests after 33 games to prolong his limited-overs career, which includes 139 ODIs and 23 Twenty20s.With each new fitness problem Oram finds it harder to keep going. “Now it is. Maybe the first four or five lengthy injuries – going home from a tour or missing a series – didn’t worry me,” he said. “I was young and I just got back. Now it’s eroded the energy of my psyche. It weighs on my shoulders.”Oram, whose knee becomes “a bit stiff” after bowling, is not the only one in the New Zealand squad who is suffering. Kyle Mills (knee and shoulder), Jesse Ryder (stomach), Ian Butler (groin) and Aaron Redmond (groin) are also trying to eliminate doubts over their bodies in Brisbane this week. The training was restricted on Wednesday when they were forced into an indoor cricket centre after being hit by the sort of wet weather they knew they would get at home.Oram said having so many players coming back was not a problem. “New Zealand teams are used to it, a wealth of injuries,” he said. “Kyle and Jesse are very important to the team so it’s more about being excited to have them here than worried about them.”Having their core of star players firing is the key for New Zealand, who made the semi-finals in South Africa in 2007 and the second round in England last year. “If we can get everyone fit then we’re a real chance to go all the way,” Oram said. “The 40-over game helps us. For the five to 10 years that I’ve been playing, we’re always better and more comfortable with the shorter forms. If things go well it could play into our hands, but then Twenty20 is so fickle.”