Oram battling to regain spot in ODI squad

Jacob Oram's chances of making New Zealand's one-day squad for the forthcoming series against West Indies are getting slimmer.

Oram, 27, has been forced to pull out of the final stage of New Zealand's State Shield owing to a heel injury, a sign that does not bode well for the allrounder. "The selectors meet Wednesday and they'll decide then what part, if any, he's likely to have in the one-day series against the Windies," Lindsay Crocker, the New Zealand general manager, told stuff.co.nz. "It's now become a point of concern, given it has taken a little longer than we would've hoped. The question is whether we try to accelerate his recovery to play a part in the one-day series or let him continue his rehab to play a full part in the Test series."

Oram, the Central Districts captain, suffered a stone bruise injury that has already seen him spend 25 days on the sidelines. He returned to the Central side purely as a batsman, but felt pain in his heel while batting against Otago recently. "It's taken a lot longer than we all thought and then he's had the setback," Crocker said. "It was hurting after the Otago game so we are trying no cricket activity to see if it will settle."

With Oram fighting to gain a spot for the one-day series against West Indies, and Chris Cairns having announced his retirement, New Zealand have problems on their hands. The first one-day match against the West Indies is at the Westpac Stadium in Wellington on February 18.

Meanwhile, New Zealand Cricket is considering adding a three-day match to the start of the West Indies tour, probably against a New Zealand XI in Hamilton starting on Saturday. "The Windies are a long time on the ground before the first game (Twenty20 in Auckland on February 15) so I suspect they will want something other than practice," Crocker said. A squad of 14 players - including players from Auckland, Wellington and Northern Districts - has been announced to begin training at a camp in Hamilton today.