Jacob Oram - A head for heights

In another age, Jacob Oram would have been a prime candidate for the All-Black rugby scrum. At 6ft 6ins tall, he would have been among the tallest of players ever to play for New Zealand.

However, times are changing on the New Zealand sporting scene, as a wider variety of games have been encouraged in the country's schools. The entire New Zealand bowling attack, Daniel Vettori included, would fit in well as far as height is concerned among the All-Black forwards. But it is representative of those changes that Oram came to cricket, not from the usual rugby route, but from soccer where he was good enough to be included in an age-group development squad as a goalkeeper.

The skills that Oram developed in that game have made an easy transition to cricket, and when complemented with his competitive nature, the mix is an impressive one. What is more, goalkeepers-turned-allrounders have succeeded before in New Zealand cricket. None other than Richard Hadlee played between the sticks at national-league level.

Quite apart from his obvious abilities with bat and ball, Oram sports one of the wider wingspans in the game. He commands the gully region like one of the royal albatrosses that regularly make landfall on the southern coastline of New Zealand.

He was targeted at an early age as a prospective international cricketer, and was an early member of New Zealand Cricket's academy. He is one of the modern products of the New Zealand game, a member of a generation able to make a sustainable living on either a provincial or an international contract, and is helping to rid the country's players of the tag of being amateur cricketers.

Responsibility came Oram's way early in his career, when he was named captain of his Central Districts side ahead of many older hands and likelier candidates. But an investment was made in a younger player, and it proved an exceptional choice. In the national domestic one-day competition, CD had long under-performed. At the root of their problems was a lack of a home base - coming from an amalgamation of district associations, the players are required to play their games at a multitude of district grounds, and summers are spent living out of a suitcase, even when playing home games.

However, under the best-of-three-finals system that was employed in the summer of 2000-01, Central Districts achieved the improbable. As second qualifier for the finals, they had to play the first game on their "home" ground, which they duly lost. Nobody gave them much hope of beating Canterbury on home turf, especially when up against such formidable players as Nathan Astle, Craig McMillan, Chris Martin and Chris Harris. But they did just that, and whipped the Shell Cup from under Canterbury's noses.

It was an impressive demonstration of Oram's leadership ability, and stands him in good stead for the New Zealand captaincy, as and when Stephen Fleming's tenure comes to an end. Earlier that month, he had been rewarded with selection for New Zealand's one-day series against Sri Lanka, in which he managed a highest score of 59 while picking up nine wickets.

During the following winter he played in India, in the annual Buchi Babu tournament with the New Zealand A team, but on returning home he was troubled by a worsening foot injury and was found to have suffered a broken bone that curtailed his preparation for the home season. Things got even worse when, after resting, he aggravated the injury while taking a single in a CD trial match.

An X-ray confirmed the break, and Oram was resigned to missing most of that summer which just happened to include a tour of Australia. But his long recuperation ensured that, when he did return, he was much better prepared. His bowling, which was only a minor part of his game when he first started, has developed impressively, and he is now an integral part of the New Zealand attack.

His height gives him an extra advantage, even on the slowest of pitches - an ability to get bounce where others struggle for it. That proved significant in India in October and November 2003. The Indians had been severely troubled in the damp conditions which prevailed for their Christmas tour of New Zealand in 2002, and were keen to cut Oram down to size on their home patch. He only played in one Test, but his average against India still reads 13 wickets at 19.69.

The real emergence of Oram the allrounder occurred during the home season of 2003-04 against Pakistan and South Africa. He started with an innings of 97 in the second Test at Wellington's Basin Reserve, where he later admitted he had allowed himself to get swept up in the occasion, but he made amends with a deserved maiden century in difficult circumstances against South Africa at Hamilton. His batting average for the six Tests was 53; his overall career average had risen to 42.50, which combined with his bowling figure of 26.41 confirms his burgeoning allround talents.

The challenge is ahead for Oram, not only to maintain his strike rate with bat and ball, but to face the inevitable pressures that will increase when he finally assumes Chris Cairns's position as the foremost allrounder in the side. But for the moment, he's trying to keep it all very simple. And for anyone from Central Districts, that is just the way they like it.