McMillan is one of five drafted players in the Central squad and takes over the captaincy from the retired Mark Greatbatch.

He will be joined by Otago's David Sewell and Northern Districts trio Matthew and Robbie Hart, and Alex Tait.

Another Canterbury batsman, Llorne Howell, is the Northern team's only drafted player.

There are no outsiders in the Southern line-up.

Central coach Denis Aberhart, himself Christchurch-based, welcomed the acquisition of McMillan as his captain and described the placements of McMillan and Howell as positive moves by the national selectors.

``Craig is an exciting player who has captained the New Zealand Youth side.

``He has also been to Kuala Lumpur and won the eights as captain,'' said Aberhart.

``New Zealand Cricket is saying he's got leadership potential.

``I worked with Craig for three or four years with the Canterbury side, know how he operates, and he knows how I operate.''

Transferring McMillan and Howell out of the Southern squad should benefit New Zealand all-rounders Chris Harris and Chris Cairns, said Aberhart.

``It means people like Harris and Cairns are not going to be batting at six and seven.

``It's important that the New Zealand players are batting higher in the order and getting plenty of time.''

Otago's Warren Lees will again coach Southern, while Chris Kuggeleijn takes over the Northern reins from John Bracewell, who is coaching English county Gloucestershire.

All three teams were chosen by the national selectors, Ross Dykes, Rick Pickard, and Steve Rixon, with NZC operations manager John Reid as an ex-officio member of the panel.

The competition begins on November 11 with defending champion Northern playing a visiting Pakistan A at Timaru's Aorangi Park, while Central will meet Southern at Lincoln University.

After a round-robin series, the top two teams and the third and fourth sides in the Conference series will play off from November 28 to December 1.

Teams

Central: Craig McMillan (capt, drafted), Matthew Bell, Matthew Hart (drafted), Robbie Hart (drafted), Mark Jefferson, Robert Kennedy, Andrew Penn, David Sewell (drafted), Mathew Sinclair, Craig Spearman, Alex Tait (drafted), Roger Twose.
Coach, Denis Aberhart.

Southern: Stephen Fleming (capt), Geoff Allott, Nathan Astle, Chris Cairns, Martyn Croy, Craig Cumming, Chris Harris, Matthew Horne, Shayne O'Connor, Mark Priest, Paul Wiseman, Warren Wisneski.
Coach, Warren Lees.

Northern: Dion Nash (capt), Mark Bailey, Aaron Barnes, Simon Doull, Chris Drum, Llorne Howell (drafted), Adam Parore, Blair Pocock, Daniel Vettori, Brooke Walker, Kerry Walmsley, Bryan Young.
Coach, Chris Kuggeleijn.