Craig McMillan

Craig Douglas McMillan (born September 13, 1976 in Christchurch, Canterbury) is a former New Zealand international cricketer at Test, One Day International and Twenty20 level. He was a right-handed batsman and useful right-arm medium pace bowler and played for Canterbury in New Zealand first-class cricket. He also played English county cricket for Hampshire and Gloucestershire.

Playing style

His batting is often characterised by innovation and improvisation, notably with a "square on" stance, which he sometimes uses in One-day Internationals when he is premeditating a big hit to the legside. His medium pace bowling is characterised by an extremely high proportion of bouncers - highly belligerent for a part-time medium pace bowler.

His teammates call him "Gladiator" because of his resemblance to actor Russell Crowe especially his appearance in the movie Gladiator.

Career highlights

• McMillan made his Test debut in 1997 against world champions Australia aged just 22.

• At the Basin Reserve in 1998-99 he was part of a 137-run 6th wicket second innings partnership with Chris Cairns which won them the 2nd Test against India. Earlier in the year he had scored his highest Test score, 142 against Sri Lanka at R. Premadasa Stadium.

• In the summer of 2000-01 in Hamilton, McMillan took 26 runs off a Younis Khan over which was a record at the time.

• To date he has made 3 ODI centuries, the first two against Pakistan, including an......
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