8th June 2001 - Life in England

Arrived straight after the Sharjah tour at Manchester airport accompanied by Mat Sinclair. We had the opportunity to be dropped off by a LIMO as part of the UAE airline services but we both decided that we’re not rock stars and a simple ride in a Lada was good enough.

I’m playing for a club called Esholt in the Bradford 2nd division, the ground is in a beautiful area of northern Bradford. Although the city isn’t the gateway to the world, this area sure is farmy. ‘Emidale Farm’, some soapy on England TV use to filmed in this area. It’s still a popular campsite area for that reason, maybe not for much longer because the damage cricket balls have done to them so far this season has scared a few off.

I was having a net last week and I noticed it’s also a popular practice arena for Robin Hood followers. I noticed this old guy all kitted up with his bow 'n' arrow, pointy hat with a feather stuck in it, shooting at a stuffed hog up an embanked area. Mmm, I was curious so I walked over to him to say g’day and an off chance of getting a go. Unfortunately he was quite protective of his culture and told me to bugger off. Dad always told me not to trust an old guy with a feather stuck in his hat holding a bow 'n' arrow so I didn’t hang around for long.

I knew that the standard was going to be poor before arriving but after the first 5 games where we bowled teams out for less than 70, the lowest being 31, it was going to be a real challenge to keep my high standards. But although my game won’t improve at all here, it’s still a good opportunity to get into good routines of training as part of my off season practice. I saw the games as open wicket practices and of course helping my teammates to improve and become better all round cricket players. I feel that it’s worked so far.

I’m living in a pub. Could be dangerous for some, but luckily I handle alcohol as good as an ashtray holding ash on a motorbike, so I’m safe. The room I’ve got is basic – much the same as what I ‘m used to back home. A hotel room. Big living area, own kitchen, bathroom, big TV, internet, and of course the most important apparatus, a heater, twin carb 6 litre turbo...just enough to keep thawed.

My weeks are keeping to training schedules provided by the legend Warren Frost, our fitness dude at NZ cricket. We have a website at the NZ cricket high performance center where we log on twice a week to stay in touch with all the coaches and each other. Pretty high tech stuff but it’s all professional and very organized. So yeah, I run, gym, stretch, train the brain. But there’s always time on the golf course once a week. We recently all gathered down in London, Kyle Mills, Andre Adams, Mat Sinclair, Mark Richardson, Hamish Marshall, and Chris Drum. We trained two days at Lords, wicked. I’ve always said that I didn’t want to see the ground until one day when I’m selected to play a game there. It’s the home of cricket and basically our lifetime dream to play there, so I avoided any chance to sneak a quick preview. I succeeded.

Skip and I stayed with Flem and Kelly in their 3 bedroom apartment in West Hampstead. Just up the road from Lords. Bloody good to see Flem doing well at Middlesex...maybe gives New Zealanders more chance in the future to play county cricket and take over the Aussie dominance. Kelly’s brushing shoulders with all the English pop stars, working in a top London clothing boutique thingy. She was saying that the All Saints popped in to buy a few goodies. Well probably a lot of goodies.

I’ve also had plenty of chance to visit my best mate and flat mate back home Tama ‘the smooth’ Canning. He’s 30 miles away kicking butt in the Lancashire league playing for Accrington. His team isn’t too good but TC's averaging close to 50 and taking piles of wickets as he does. TC and I pretty well clicked the first day we met, he’s only been in NZ for 2 years now, coming from Western Australia. It could be the ozzy background, but we are both on the same wavelength with most things in life. We sit together for hours and hours watching TV or playing Tiger Woods on the playstation and not saying a single word. It might sound strange to you but we sort of know what each others thinking about so it would be a waste of energy to talk. Marie, his partner has just recently left to go back to Perth to do a course at tech, and he’s stuffed, I don’t think he knows what a washing machine looks like, let alone a vacuum cleaner and dishes...forget about it. But luckily the club looks after him because of his achievements so far this season, and sent their wives around to his house to straighten things up for him. God bless.

A heap has happened, but I dribble enough crap so I better stop now. Oh, got my highest ten pin bowling score of 178 the other day. Thanks to my sister for sending me my top up of Moro bars. Still waiting for the steak 'n' cheese pie!!!!

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