ROOKIE tourists Craig McMillan and Shayne O'Connor could be assigned a look, listen and learn brief on the New Zealand cricket team's brief tour of India.
There is no guarantee the two newcomers will be blooded during the Independence Cup quadrangular one-day tournament also featuring hosts India, World Cup holders Sri Lanka and Pakistan.
New Zealand play their first match in the tournament against Pakistan at Mohali, on the outskirts of Chandigarh, on Friday. "You blood people when you have got the time and the extra games to do so," New Zealand coach Steve Rixon said. McMillan is a batsman from Canterbury and O'Connor is a left arm medium-fast bowler from Otago.
The compact nature of this tournament allows minimal experimentation for Rixon and captain Stephen Fleming. It is highly probable New Zealand will need to win two of their three preliminary games to qualify for the best-of-three final.
"If the team play well in their first game then the same players will take the park for the second match," Rixon said. "Craig and Shayne are basically here as alternatives if the original side do not weigh up."
McMillan, 20, forced his way into the national side by scoring a mountain of runs for Canterbury last summer when he set a new Shell Trophy benchmark for his province of 809 runs at an average of 73 per innings.
In contrast, O'Connor finds himself in the squad because front-line seamer Simon Doull was forced out by injury. O'Connor possesses the sought-after ability to swing the ball in to right-handed batsmen.
The Kiwis play a 40-overs match against a Chandigarh Administrator's XI as a warm-up game for the cup fixture against Pakistan tomorrow.
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