Oram set to bowl in ODI

Jacob Oram has taken 129 one-day international wickets at an average of 30

Jacob Oram is set to resume his all-rounder role in the first one-day international against India in Napier on Tuesday.

Oram played in the two Twenty20 games as a batsman only on his return from an Achilles injury, but Daniel Vettori is expected to give him a run with the ball as well at McLean Park, provided the anticipated rain stays away.

“I’ll look to bowl him a few overs tomorrow,” Vettori said. “It definitely won’t be a full spell, but even a little bit of him makes a big difference so we’ll probably choose between Ian Butler and Tim Southee in terms of the final seamer.”

With Sachin Tendulkar set to pull on the pads for the first time since arriving in New Zealand and Virender Sehwag, Suresh Raina and Yuvraj Singh showing some good touches during the two Twenty20 internationals, Vettori knows precision bowling will be required on a “fantastic” McLean Park wicket.

“My big thing for the bowlers, I just want to see them put it in the right spots. If it gets hit for six in the right spots then I can live with that,” he said.

“If we go searching and start giving them width then we’re going to get ourselves in trouble. I’m just asking the bowlers to be as consistent as possible.”

The Black Caps skipper also hinted at a change from the norm if he won the toss.

He said: “A par score is normally around 280-300 so we’d love to have a bat and put those runs on the board because, I keep saying it, that a good team has to be able to do both things and whilst I prefer to chase all the time I’m still always looking at both options.”

Setting a good total will require good form from the New Zealand top order and Brendon McCullum has shown plenty of that in leading the Black Caps to victory in the past two games while Jesse Ryder, Martin Guptill and Ross Taylor have also added valuable runs.

Vettori said: “The maturity that has been shown by players in relatively new careers is pretty exciting. I look back on all the games I’ve played and this is probably the most exciting top four that I’ve played with and they could be around for a long, long time.

“It solidifies that batting order and it means we have match winners there as well as guys who can adapt to situations like Ross Taylor has proved over the last six months.”

India’s strike bowler Ishant Sharma looks likely to miss the match after suffering a shoulder injury in Friday’s Twenty20 international in Wellington with India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni confirming they would be taking a cautious approach.

“We are thinking of giving him a rest so he can be available for the whole series, rather than playing him when he is 80 percent or 70 percent fit.

“We will be cautious when it comes to Ishant Sharma.”