TWOSE_PROFILE_SEP1995

The Electronic Telegraph Friday 1 September 1995

Devon`s cream rises to the top

Peter Deeley reports on the ambition that has made a Kiwi of Roger Twose

WHEN Brian Lara arrived at Edgbaston last summer, he found a note pinned up in the dressing-room: "Welcome to the second best left-hander in the world."

It did not take the West Indian long to discover the joker. In the first match of the season, against Glamorgan, Lara`s debut century was overshadowed - statistically if not in quality - by his partner in a double-century stand. Roger Twose, who does not lack selfconfidence, batted for more than 10 hours, then a championship longest innings, for 277. It was the first time the Devonian had really come to the notice of a wider audience.

His roots in the game are deep: his father and brother played for Devon, two uncles played for Leicestershire and one, Roger, went on to represent his country. Now Twose is a key part of the success- ful Warwickshire set-up - but not for much longer. By next month he will have begun a new life in New Zealand, immediately setting off with their Test team on a tour of India.

Besides his sharp humour (his entry in the Cricketers` Who`s Who reveals that he was born in Torquay "in a car") Twose is an example of a man who has expanded his horizons by application and hard work. For all his teasing of Lara, he has probably benefited, technically and mentally, more than anyone in the Warwickshire side from the West Indian`s presence in 1994.

He is the only Warwickshire player to have appeared in every competitive game to date - 81 first-class and one-day matches - during the past two seasons in which he has scored more than 3,800 runs in all competitions. Warwickshire will find it difficult to fill his shoes next year, yet there was a time when a prosperous career in the first-class game, let alone Test status, seemed doubtful.

The turning point came in New Zealand where the family has links

Twose is what educationalists might term a slow developer. He joined Warwickshire from MCC`s ground staff in 1989 and spent three years serving an apprenticeship in the seconds. The turning point came in New Zealand where the family have links. Twose first played there in 1989 and two years later, while playing for Central Districts, embarked on a stringent fitness regime - junk food out, high fibre diet in - which he has resolutely stuck to, reducing his weight and paving the way for a regular first-team place on his return to Birmingham.

In New Zealand that winter, Twose made his maiden first-class hundred and earned brief notoriety for querying a leg-before decision Ian Botham won against him during England`s tour. On his return his first home century followed: a double-century against Leicestershire.

His girlfriend, Shalene, is a New Zealander, and Twose decided to serve a four-year residential qualifying period, which he completed last April, to become a fellow Kiwi. He switched from Central Districts to Wellington last winter and scored three more first-class hundreds. England selectors declined to take Twose on last winter`s A tour of India, feeling that Warwickshire were pushing his case on grounds of self-interest. But New Zealand had no such qualms.

By February he could be facing England in Ahmedabad in New Zealand`s opening World Cup game and in April encountering Lara and the West Indies in a Caribbean Test. Excitement at a future interna- tional career is tempered with regrets. "I`m obviously delighted to have been picked by New Zealand but I`m sad to be leaving Warwickshire. I`ve had seven wonderful years here. They are a great club and they have helped mould me into the player I am today.

"It`s the hardest decision of my life, upping roots. Financially it`s no contest but going to New Zealand isn`t a matter of finances. It`s a whole-of-life decision, not one made purely on cricketing grounds.

"I couldn`t ask for a bigger stage than Lord`s to end my Warwickshire career."

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