Injured Walker has simple Christmas wish

All Brooke Walker wants for Christmas is a sympathetic doctor --and six dot-ball overs.

The 23-year-old Auckland leg-spinner is the latest of New Zealand's test-prospect bowlers to develop a injury -- and it may be quite serious.

"There is some problem behind my left knee, affecting a tendon," said Walker when he arrived with his New Zealand team-mates at Auckland airport this morning.

"Evidently it could be quite serious, and need lengthy treatment. Hopefully, it is a minor problem, and I will be able to play again soon," said Walker.

"I am to have a specialist examine the knee in the next day or so, and will know more about the injury then."

Walker, who was one of the earlier bowling replacements when the New Zealanders in Zimbabwe, Kenya and South Africa suffered from so many injuries to bowlers, said he had enjoyed the experience.

"It was a really good learning experience for me, and I think I made quite a lot of progress. But there is more hard work to be done.

"One thing I learned that at this high level of cricket you cannot get away with bowling one bad ball an over. Against the really good batsmen you have to try and make sure you can bowl six dot-balls an over. Otherwise you get hit."

Walker earned some merit points for staunch batting during the tests against South Africa, and this is another part of his game he wants to work on.

"I know I can bat, and now I need to get some big scores in first class games. It would be a help if I could get some batting experience a bit higher in the order, perhaps six or seven."

One of Walker's team-mates, Craig McMillan, is another player seeking to broaden his cricketing horizons -- at the same time trimming his waistline.

"I have lost a fair bit of weight over the last few months, when training in Christchurch and then on tour," said the once-chubby 24-year-old who now looks a lean, keen teenager.

"I guess four or five kilos went away, and I feel as if I am moving more easily." Primarily a middle-order hard-hitting batsman, McMillan fancies himself as a medium-fast bowler with a useful change of pace, plus a bouncer.

"I used to be about the 120 kilometres an hour class, but now I feel I am bowling a bit quicker. I would like to be considered as a regular bowler, a partnership breaker."

A modern-day Jeremy Coney, perhaps?

"Oh. I would hope rather quicker than Coney."