The former New Zealand tearaway on his glittering but all-too-brief playing career and his second life as a nomadic coach

Interview Andrew Alderson

PHOTO BY PHIL WALTER

“Everyone I bowled to or batted against during that Australia series was incredible, and I’d only watched them on telly until that point. I was a policeman competing against professionals

Cooking with gas

I was not a standout bowler when I was younger. I had a growth spurt at 16 and bowled quick in my last year at high school. I competed in a fast-bowling competition at Christchurch’s Lancaster Park and clocked 131kph, but there was nothing to suggest I would bowl over 150. I came out of police college and knew I had a job so I thought, “Bugger it, I’ll bowl as fast as I can”. Dion Nash got in touch and said I had bowled with international-quality gas.

Then, bowling on a flat wicket at QE II Park, the ball kept flying over the keeper’s head. Canterbury coach Garry MacDonald said, “I’m going to get Paddles [Sir Richard Hadlee, then New Zealand selector] down here because you’re bowling as fast as anyone around”. That’s when I got my first A-tour chance.

A policeman against professionals

My Test debut [in 2001] was against one of cricket’s greatest teams, when we met Australia at Hobart.

Everyone I bowled to or batted against during that series was incredible, and I’d only watched them on telly until that point. I was a policeman competing against professionals.

I spent my first day looking at the scoreboard to see how fast I was bowling. It started at 137kph and kept creeping up. The hype over the speed barrier took hold once my fitness improved and I could sustain it. I will treasure the one-day series later in the summer against Australia and South Africa, who were probably the two best teams in the world. It afforded me the chance to become a proper pro. There was an adrenaline rush bowling to some of the greats but we had fun off the field as well, like when our manager Jeff Crowe organised a private screening of A Beautiful Mind starring his cousin Russell, who waltzed in at the end carrying the Oscar he’d won for Gladiator.