Injury-plagued Oram's focus now on World Cup

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UPWARD CURVE: Allrounder Jacob Oram says a win over Sri Lanka on Friday would lift New Zealand spirits even further.

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It's the World Cup or bust for Jacob Oram, who admits his body is screaming at him to retire.

Oram will be sidelined for the rest of this year after he has knee surgery next week, but he remains determined to be fit for New Zealand's World Cup opener against Kenya in Chennai on February 20.

If his body rebels again, the 32-year-old's decade-long international career could be over, after 33 tests, 141 ODIs and 27 Twenty20 internationals.

"If I miss the World Cup then recover to a stage where I feel as good as I can, I may keep going," Oram said.

"But it just may be one kick in the guts too many if I don't make the World Cup."

A shattered Oram was given the bad news by orthopaedic surgeon Hamish Crawford on Thursday.

He played two matches in the Sri Lanka tri-series before the left knee he wrenched against Australia in Napier in February flared up again. He flew home on Wednesday for expert advice.

Initially Oram hoped it would be cleanup surgery, but a scan showed his patella tendon required a full repair job.

He said the ODI series in India in early December would be pushing it, and on Crawford's advice he was targeting the home series against Pakistan, starting on Boxing Day.

"If it does go to plan, then that gives me a month before the flight to the subcontinent for the World Cup.

"I'm looking at that as the carrot for me because I need something to keep me focused or I will probably slip into `woe is me' mode and look at the `R' word. I'm not ready for that yet. Obviously my body has gone past the hinting period – I think it's yelling at me. But I'm pretty stubborn and I still have this big goal of going to the World Cup."

He thought his knee was back to 100 per cent after a lengthy rehabilitation. He got through the World T20 in May, but it worsened again in the buildup to Sri Lanka as he worked hard on his fitness with road running and indoor bowling.

The impending surgery is bad news financially, too. Oram was set to fly out next week with Central Districts for the lucrative Champions League in South Africa, and hopefully attract interest from IPL sides with the new round of contracts set to be dished out.

"There are a number of reasons why this is terrible timing, and probably the reason why this is the hardest injury I've had to deal with," he said.

Despite his injury-plagued career, he said this was the first time he had required any surgery. Giving up bowling wasn't an option. "With the amount of injuries and limited game time I've had, my form has dipped and with that a bit of confidence. I've also slipped down the batting order so I'm thinking if I give bowling up they're not going to pick me as a specialist batter at seven or eight."

He is unsure when his rehab can begin after surgery, but at least he has a distraction at home in Palmerston North. He returned from Sri Lanka to find eight-month-old son Patrick had begun crawling.

"It reminds me that, while I'm an injured cricketer, I'm still a fulltime dad, and it means things could be a lot worse."

Young left-arm Blenheim allrounder Ben Wheeler is Oram's replacement in the 15-man CD squad for South Africa.

- © Fairfax NZ News