A couple of quick ones from me. 1. NZR. Does anyone really care about this sorry saga anymore? 2. I find it amusing that the Eden Park CEO refers to Eden Park as ‘New Zealand’s National Stadium’ any time he speaks to the media. Reminds me of a motel owner who self rates their 1 1/2 star joint as 4 stars. We don’t have a national stadium.
I rate Will Young and agree with you that his career has been mishandled by selectors (Ajiz Patel falls into that category as well). Compare their treatment with Henry Nicholls who gets continual chances. Nicholls last decent test score was 200 on a flat Basin Reserve deck. NZ got 508/4. His other last 18 test innings have produced a top score of 30!
Young has never been afforded the same opportunities.
Great article Dylan, and if you were referring to me in the NZC section then I’m quite chuffed!
Quite an interesting collection of issues there that are a sign of changing times - NZRU dragging in private capital to start with; NZC and NZ Netball all with fundamental challenges on they’re hands.
Ironically, having been a cricket tragic all my life I grew up thinking my chosen sport was a bit of a second class citizen, far less popular than rugby and with a very poor shop window (the 1990s Black Caps!). But now...I think cricket is in better shape than most. I coach 10-12 year olds and we have 150 kids in the junior club and compete against other clubs with similar riches. The boys (and a decent smattering of girls too) are super keen, very engaged with today’s Black Caps and encouraged to whack it, making it all pretty attractive.
On the rugby personally I believe Silverlake was a mistake, and from that momentous decision many problems will flow. Maybe I’m clinging on to nostalgia but the value in the ABs is history and identity, and when you move to a “shareholder” model where a major shareholder’s objectives are totally different you have taken a big step away from what it was always about.
Interested in the ongoing debate around the worth of numerous bilateral series. For a start, I do think it is crazy that a week after finishing a test series the same two teams (although different players) are playing a series in a different format on the other side of the world. What the amount of international cricket we get though does enable NZC to do is to take the Black Caps to New Zealand. If you had less international cricket, it would end up being concentrated across three or four major centers. This way, more of the country get to see the Black Caps and White Ferns. Compare and contrast that to NZR, who due to the scarcity of number of tests their flagship teams play in NZ, they are concentrated across three or four stadiums.
Not saying that's a good reason for the shemozzle that is international scheduling to continue but it is a fortunate by-product.
On the Auckland Stadium issue all I can say is “good luck”. The word in learned circles is that any major new infrastructure in NZ gets tied up in the RMA for at least 10 years. And you can bet whatever project is preferred will be vociferously opposed by *someone* and politics will take over. It’s a travesty but that’s the NZ we live in.
A couple of quick ones from me. 1. NZR. Does anyone really care about this sorry saga anymore? 2. I find it amusing that the Eden Park CEO refers to Eden Park as ‘New Zealand’s National Stadium’ any time he speaks to the media. Reminds me of a motel owner who self rates their 1 1/2 star joint as 4 stars. We don’t have a national stadium.
I rate Will Young and agree with you that his career has been mishandled by selectors (Ajiz Patel falls into that category as well). Compare their treatment with Henry Nicholls who gets continual chances. Nicholls last decent test score was 200 on a flat Basin Reserve deck. NZ got 508/4. His other last 18 test innings have produced a top score of 30!
Young has never been afforded the same opportunities.
Great article Dylan, and if you were referring to me in the NZC section then I’m quite chuffed!
Quite an interesting collection of issues there that are a sign of changing times - NZRU dragging in private capital to start with; NZC and NZ Netball all with fundamental challenges on they’re hands.
Ironically, having been a cricket tragic all my life I grew up thinking my chosen sport was a bit of a second class citizen, far less popular than rugby and with a very poor shop window (the 1990s Black Caps!). But now...I think cricket is in better shape than most. I coach 10-12 year olds and we have 150 kids in the junior club and compete against other clubs with similar riches. The boys (and a decent smattering of girls too) are super keen, very engaged with today’s Black Caps and encouraged to whack it, making it all pretty attractive.
On the rugby personally I believe Silverlake was a mistake, and from that momentous decision many problems will flow. Maybe I’m clinging on to nostalgia but the value in the ABs is history and identity, and when you move to a “shareholder” model where a major shareholder’s objectives are totally different you have taken a big step away from what it was always about.
Interested in the ongoing debate around the worth of numerous bilateral series. For a start, I do think it is crazy that a week after finishing a test series the same two teams (although different players) are playing a series in a different format on the other side of the world. What the amount of international cricket we get though does enable NZC to do is to take the Black Caps to New Zealand. If you had less international cricket, it would end up being concentrated across three or four major centers. This way, more of the country get to see the Black Caps and White Ferns. Compare and contrast that to NZR, who due to the scarcity of number of tests their flagship teams play in NZ, they are concentrated across three or four stadiums.
Not saying that's a good reason for the shemozzle that is international scheduling to continue but it is a fortunate by-product.
On the Auckland Stadium issue all I can say is “good luck”. The word in learned circles is that any major new infrastructure in NZ gets tied up in the RMA for at least 10 years. And you can bet whatever project is preferred will be vociferously opposed by *someone* and politics will take over. It’s a travesty but that’s the NZ we live in.