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Journalism of Courage
Wellington, December 30: World class all-rounder Chris Cairns will make his return from injury in the New Zealand one-day team to play Zimbabwe in a three-match series at the North Island Lake Resort of Taupo on January 2.
Cairns led New Zealand to victory in the ICC international trophy in Kenya in October and battled his knee injury during the one-day series in South Africa following that before being invalided out of the tour.
Also in the team and set to make his one-day international debut, is New Zealand’s star performer in the just-concluded Test against Zimbabwe, Chris Martin.
Martin, who took five for 71 in Zimbabwe’s first innings in this Test, and young Wellington all-rounder James Franklin, named in the Test team but left out of the playing 11, are the only new one-day caps.
The team: Stephen Fleming (Wellington, captain), Nathan Astle (Canterbury), Mathew Sinclair (Central Districts), Roger Twose (Wellington), Chris Cairns (Canterbury), Craig McMillan (Canterbury), Adam Parore (Auckland), Chris Harris (Canterbury), Brooke Walker (Auckland), Scott Styris (Northern Districts), Chris Martin (Canterbury), James Franklin (Wellington).
Fleming to play for Middlesex
Wellington:New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming confirmed today he will be playing for English county side Middlesex for the 2001 season.
Fleming, playing in the Test against Zimbabwe in Wellington, said today he believed it was a good opportunity for him to develop his game.
“While I thoroughly enjoy captaining the New Zealand team, the chance to concentrate on my batting with first class and one-day matches almost every day of the week for near enough to six months is too good to miss,” Fleming said.
He will leave for Lord’s following the New Zealand home series against Pakistan in March and Middlesex have agreed for his release for the yet-to-be confirmed series of one-day matches in Sri Lanka in June or July.
Fleming has played 57 Tests for New Zealand, scoring 3422 runs at an average of 36.4 with three centuries and 27 half-centuries.
