Oram to miss World Cup opener

Jacob Oram will miss New Zealand's World Cup opener against England after he was ruled out of the remaining two Chappell-Hadlee Trophy games with a broken left ring finger. Oram took a catch in the outfield to remove Mitchell Johnson in the first match at Wellington but the ball bent his finger back and he was clearly in considerable pain after completing the catch.

Oram immediately went to hospital for x-rays but he will stay with the team for the rest of the series against Australia, despite Peter Fulton being added to the squad as a replacement. "Jacob will see a specialist in Hamilton on Monday to determine the management of the injury," Lindsay Crocker, the New Zealand general manager said.

"He will remain with the squad to keep on track with his World Cup preparations. At this stage, we are confident he will travel to the World Cup." Oram only returned to the New Zealand side during the recent CB Series, but made an immediate impact with an unbeaten 101 off 72 balls against Australia at Perth and 54 and 86 against England.

New Zealand have also recalled James Franklin for the second ODI, to be held at Auckland on Sunday. Jeetan Patel, who was 12th man in the first match, was left out.

New Zealand squad Stephen Fleming (capt), Lou Vincent, Peter Fulton, Ross Taylor, Scott Styris, Craig McMillan, Brendon McCullum (wk), Daniel Vettori, James Franklin, Shane Bond, Mark Gillespie, Daryl Tuffey.