At your service

Perhaps right now the New Zealand players cannot expect to be the best in the world but there is no reason they can't lead the world in the way they prepare. The evidence suggests they are aiming to do just so. Funds are being utilised to tap into the knowledge of past performers and that is not just in the usual form of previous New Zealand players. Mark Richardson in the Herald on Sunday gives the thumbs-up to the step forward.

I was honoured to be asked to help with formulating game plans to combat the Sri Lankan threat and spent a good chunk of time with the team's video analyst. I've basically told them to "block the proverbial out of it".

In the same paper, Peter Walsh finds it weird that Maurice Holmes, a 19-year-old from the Kent 2nd XI has been flown by the New Zealand team halfway round the world to be a net bowler. Given the fact that Holmes hasn't even played first class cricket, and that New Zealand already have the services of Saqlain Mushtaq available, Walsh feels the infusion of money into the game nowadays has meant a burgeoning industry in support staff.