Injury forces Miller to join Warne on sidelines

Another day, another withdrawal of a front-line spinner from Australia's squad to contest the forthcoming International Cricket Council Knock-out Trophy tournament in Kenya. This time it is Colin Miller who has pulled out, the off spinner forced into the move after he failed a fitness test on his right calf muscle. South Australia's left arm orthodox spinner, Brad Young, is his replacement.

Whilst not as significant a blow as the one that came last Friday - when leg spinner Shane Warne announced that the need for minor surgery on his left knee had ensured that he would not be making the trip - this one is likely to hammer another serious dent into Australia's chances of winning the tournament. Although he has yet to play in the one-day international arena, the wily Miller has been a consistently fine performer for his country at Test level since making his debut two years ago on the tour of Pakistan. In Warne's absence, the thirty-six year old would clearly have assumed the mantle as Australia's number one slow bowler on the dry, spinner-friendly pitches likely to greet the team in Nairobi. Now, it is a completely unforeseen choice between Young and New South Welshman Mark Higgs, both late inclusions in the squad, for that role.

"I'm devastated. To be picked was a dream come true so it's a massive blow to have the chance of playing one-day international cricket for Australia in this tournament taken away from me," said Miller this afternoon.

"What I've got to do now is to get some treatment for the injury and try and get fit again. Being ready for the first Mercantile Mutual Cup or Pura Cup game of the season for Victoria is now my new goal."

As for Young, the selection gives him the chance to build on an international career that stalled after he crashed into a boundary hoarding and shattered a knee while fielding at the Sydney Cricket Ground in early 1999.

"It's a very big surprise to be picked," revealed the twenty-seven year old, who was on his way to a South Australian training camp in the Victorian country town of Mildura when news of his elevation came through.

"We were actually changing a spare tyre on the bus (in Blanchetown, roughly halfway to the destination) and that's probably the only reason they got hold of me. If we'd been past there, I probably would have been out of reception range."

The left-armer has played six one-day internationals previously, capturing just one wicket from his limited opportunities. Also an aggressive batsman, he has been a regular member of the South Australian team since making his interstate debut at the beginning of the 1996-97 season. Although the majority of his one-day international appearances have come away from home, he admits to being a little unsure of what to expect in Kenya, a country to which he has not travelled before.

"To be honest, I really didn't know too much about this tour. And I haven't been there before so I'm not sure what the wickets and the grounds will be like."

Young has precisely twelve days to prepare himself for the new surroundings and, more specifically, the Nairobi Gymkhana Club ground. For it will be at the end of that period that the Australians take on the winner of the earlier India-Kenya encounter in their opening match of the knock-out event.