Too much cricket taking a toll on McMillan

Craig McMillan feels a hectic cricket schedule is taking a toll on his body, and admits that retirement may not be far away. He said he was enjoying the West Indies, especially because six months ago he was not expecting to be there, but conceded he was unlikely to add to his three World Cup trips.

"It can be a rollercoaster at times," he told Reuters. "I'm not going to put a time on anything but there is a good chance this could be my last World Cup. I've been going since I was 20 so that's close to ten years and it has been a long time. I would love to finish on a high at this World Cup with a very good side."

McMillan, 30, feared that too much cricket could shorten the careers of top-class athletes. "There is a lot more cricket played these days," he said. "It's something they [the cricket boards and the ICC] need to look at because combined with the Test tours it can get very tough.

"Maybe you will get guys just playing one form of the game. That might be a way to sustain yourself and stay involved for the last two or three years of your career, maybe forgoing one-dayers so they can play Test cricket for the last two or three years."

McMillan said a maiden World Cup title for New Zealand would be incredible. "From a personal point of view I've really enjoyed this World Cup," he said. "So I'm hoping to contribute to what will hopefully be a special tournament for New Zealand."

New Zealand have been tipped by many, not least including Ian Chappell and Sir Viv Richards, to make it to the final of the tournament. McMillan looked at the side's success so far as a "very satisfying" experience and was confident they would go all the way.

"One of our strengths is that we bat low down and we're strong in the last ten overs and I think that will become prevalent in the last few games of the tournament," he said. "The thing about our game so far is that we haven't relied on one person. Some teams rely on one or two players and you know that if you put them under pressure then the rest of the side is under pressure. The strength for New Zealand is that we have guys from one to 11 who can, on his day, win a game."

A look at New Zealand's recent chases in a 3-0 sweep of Australia in the Chappell-Hadlee Series is testament to McMillan's words. New Zealand's next match is against Ireland on Monday.