McMillan in top form at Hamilton

New Zealand batsman Craig McMillan was at his belligerent best on the third day of the rain-disrupted first Test against Bangladesh on Thursday, hitting a powerful 106 on his favourite ground.

New Zealand ended the day on 306 for five after being 51 for four at one stage. McMillan and fellow century-maker Mark Richardson (124 not out) put on a fifth wicket partnership of 190 to rescue the home side.

"I love it here," said McMillan. "I seem to score every time I play here. It's a proper cricket ground and there's only two of them in the country where we play Tests (the other is Wellington's Basin Reserve) and the atmosphere does something for me."

In seven innings at Hamilton, the middle-order batsman has recorded scores of 92, 84, 51, 79, 30, 98 last year against Pakistan and 106 against Bangladesh. A total of 540 runs at an average of 77.14.

McMillan was involved in a road accident on Tuesday, the first of two days of the Test washed out, when the taxi he was in was hit side-on by a car which had run a red light.

He was thrown around in the back seat and slightly injured the ring finger on his left hand.

"My finger is still a little bit stiff," McMillan said. "An accident like that makes you sit back and think about what's important and how lucky you are to be playing cricket for your country."

Richardson scored his second Test century -- the first was in the Pakistan Test on the same ground in March -- but admitted it was not one of his prettiest innings.

"I rode my luck a bit, but I was more nervous today than when I batted against Australia," Richardson said. "It was because we were playing Bangladesh and we were supposed to do well, but it wasn't easy out there early on.

"(The Bangladesh bowlers) are not Glenn McGrath and Jason Gillespie, but they have good wrists and swing the ball a long way. It was pretty difficult and soon we were four for 50 and they had their tails up. It was by no means easy to turn things around."

Mail Cricket Editor