da leao： James Franklin has said he hopes to make a comeback to the national team as a “50-50 allrounder” rather than a “bowling-dominant allrounder”
Cricinfo staff23-Nov-2008
James Franklin wants to be a “true allrounder” for New Zealand © Getty Images
James Franklin, the New Zealand fast bowler, has said he hopes to make a comeback to the national team as a “50-50 allrounder” rather than a “bowling-dominant allrounder”. Franklin made his first-class comeback last week for Wellington and scored 69 and took 4 for 56 in his team’s innings victory over Canterbury.”I’d like to come back into international cricket as a true allrounder, batting at seven or eight and contributing genuine runs as well as taking wickets,” Franklin told the . “Things are going well at the moment, it’s such a relief to be playing first-class cricket again,” he said. “I hadn’t played first-class for almost two years because I’d been on a steady diet of ODIs before I injured my knee.”Franklin last played a Test for New Zealand in December 2006 and he hasn’t appeared in ODIs since the 2007 World Cup. He underwent surgery for a patella tendon injury in his right knee last November and eased back into competitive cricket by playing Twenty20 and one-day games for Australian Capital Territory and representing New Zealand in the Emerging Players tour of Queensland in October this year.”At the moment the guys [New Zealand] are doing pretty well and I haven’t played international cricket for 18 months, so I have to play well at domestic cricket,” Franklin said. “Hopefully the selectors will take note of any good form I might have and you might see a left-arm bowler-batsman back in the team, which would be a good thing.”