McMillan comes to the fore

He made a quiet start in New Zealand's opening match against Bangladesh, after raising eyebrows and scattering spectators in the warm-up games. Against Surrey, he hit 86 off 54 balls and he was no less dominating on a slower pitch against Sussex at Arundel.

Tall and broad-shouldered, he hits a cricket ball instinctively and, despite a short backlift, with extraordinary timing. Don Bradman told batsmen that you cannot get caught if you keep the ball on the ground, but McMillan is not afraid of the airborne route. "I'd describe him as one of life's gamblers," Steve Rixon, the Australian-born coach to New Zealand, said. "He's a naturally adventurous character - bubbly, happy-go-lucky, but he's a competitor in all games, even at cards."

He played for Canterbury, his province, while he was still at Shirley Boys High, the school that has recently produced two other Test cricketers in Nathan Astle and Gary Stead. He took the new ball for his school, bowling aggressively on the quick side of medium, and he has proved his usefulness as a support bowler already in both Tests and the 36 one-day internationals that he has packed into 2½ years. "Sixteen one-day wickets already," he said with the pride of one used to playing down his batting and talking up his bowling.

However, it is his batting that has made a significant difference to the New Zealand Test side and is one reason that their World Cup chance is widely considered better than the original odds quoted of 20-1.

His story had been one of seamless progression from school pitch to Test arena until he sustained a broken hand batting against Jacques Kallis in the Auckland Test in March and had to miss the other two Tests and a one-day series that South Africa won by the odd game in five. His absence made a difference.

Rixon describes him as "an eye player blessed with something very special, but still a bit reckless."

McMillan agrees. "I'm trying to stop giving it away," he said. "Even in the limited-overs games, if I get to 15 I'm trying to go on to 40. But I approach first-class and one-day cricket the same way. I like to be aggressive - that's the way that's worked for me in the past. But I know I need to be more selective."

His early mentor was a coach of no great renown, Bill Duncan - "a crusty old fellow who loves working with kids" - but his hero was Martin Crowe, New Zealand's highest scorer, whom he had watched at Lancaster Park as a schoolboy and to whom he talks about batting when he can. Like many another flair player, though, McMillan has not needed much guidance.

Cricketers of natural talent do not always make outstanding captains, but McMillan impressed all who saw him leading the under-19 national side in England and he has already captained Central, a combined provincial side, in an experimental regional competition in the past two seasons.

He is, almost certainly, a future New Zealand captain, but, for himself and those guiding him, it is a case of one confident step at a time, starting with Australia today and, later in the summer, the fulfilment of his ambition to play in a Test match at Lord's.

May 20, 1999