Almanack continues to hit the mark

Earlier as New Zealand's cricket season may be getting, especially on the international front, some things remain the same and at the forefront is the New Zealand Cricket Almanack.

The inestimable diary of New Zealand's summers, whether in the southern or northern hemisphere, is in its 68^th year and it remains as invaluable as ever in all its chronicling of the men's and women's games.

Editors Francis Payne and Ian Smith have built the Almanack to the point where it is difficult to imagine, especially as newspapers further retrench, a more ready reckoner of the game.

Websites may be fashionable but there is something to be said for picking up an almanack, consulting the contents page and going straight to the required information.

It also has the advantage of acknowledging significant milestones in the game, especially at the less resourced first-class level, while also ensuring that in most instances the deaths of players unknown to many of a younger generation are suitably acknowledged.

In a changing media world it is difficult to imagine how the game could survive without this outstanding ready reference for New Zealand.

It also acknowledges key performers in games with Trent Boult and Brendon McCullum named as players of the year while the promising players were Jacob Duffy, Will Young and Henry Nicholls, who was most recently named in New Zealand's one-day squad to play Sri Lanka.

New Zealand's World Cup performance is captured and it bears repeating again that the side produced the highest run scorer in the tournament (Martin Guptill – 547 runs) and the best bowling performance (Tim Southee – 7-33 v England).

Among some of the statistical points were noting during the year was Peter Fulton's breaking Jeremy Coney's record of 18 catches in a season for a province. Fulton took 20 for Canterbury.

It was a big year for Fulton who achieved 100 first-class appearances for Canterbury while also becoming the first player to score 7000 runs for the province. Only Bert Sutcliffe (five) and Matthew Bell (three) and Fulton (three) have passed 200 runs as many times for their provinces.

When Tom Latham scored a Test century against Pakistan it was the third occurrence of a father-son century in New Zealand Test history. Rod Latham scored a century against Zimbabwe. Walter and Richard Hadlee and Ken and Hamish Rutherford are the other combinations to have achieved the feat.

The gems continue and it is difficult to imagine how the breadth of New Zealand's involvement in cricket around the world nowadays could be better captured than in this 'must-have' tool for serious cricket fans.

Fast man Bartlett has story to tell

New Zealand cricket does not have a reputation for producing fast bowlers capable of sustaining form or fitness for the long haul.

Perhaps it's something for the physiology professors to work out. Certainly, they would have plenty of case study material from those comets who have exploded across the lower atmosphere in New Zealand.

Meteor Over Marborough - The Gary Bartlett Story by John Alexander. Printed and available from Copy Press Books, Nelson, $49.95

It is a sad fact that those who have generated speed above the ordinary have burned out all too quickly.

In recent memory Shane Bond is the most obvious example, but before him there was Murray Webb, who terrorised batsmen in domestic cricket in the late-60s early 70s but never had the good fortune to get to bowl in a Test match on a bowling belter.

Fast bowler Gary Bartlett speaks with Lynn McConnell on Radio Live Weekend Sport

Richard and Dayle Hadlee each generated lively pace, Richard for a brief period before deciding endurance was more reasonable than express pace while Dayle was never able to shake a back injury suffered almost immediately after he was exposed to international play.

The fastest of them all may well have been Gary Bartlett who had the satisfaction of being a key contributor to three of New Zealand's first four Test victories, two overseas in South Africa in 1961-62 and at home against India in 1967-68.

Comparisons between eras are difficult, especially when timing devices were not as efficient as those on the modern scene.

However, those who have had the chance to see all the possible claimants in action rate Bartlett as the fastest of them all.

But he was to suffer injuries that negated the total impact he could have made.

His story is a fascinating one and has been finally committed to print by former Blenheim sports writer John Alexander.

'Meteor Over Marlborough'  is the end product and it is a fascinating look through cricket of Bartlett's era from a bowler's perspective and which hasn't been recognised as books about John Reid and Bert Sutcliffe are the only books of significance from the time and they concentrate more on those batsmen's feats.

Bartlett was always going to be a cricketer of some reputation. He lived the classic upbringing for sportsmen of his era and before. Living opposite the home of cricket in Blenheim, Horton Park, he was ever-present at the nets and at games in the manner of many boys before him including one young fellow named Bradman who lived opposite the Oval that now bears his name in Bowral.

Bartlett also had some wise men to watch over him, Fen and Arthur Cresswell, two long-standing names in Marlborough cricket. All the contacts who helped him along the way are part of his story.

It was some surprise to the New Zealand slips cordon that awaited the first ball from Bartlett when he made his international debut at the Basin Reserve in Wellington against an Australian Second XI in New Zealand. After seeing the speed unleashed they took several steps backwards before his second ball.

Visiting Australian captain Ian Craig didn't enjoy the experience as he became Bartlett's first international wicket and he picked him five times out of six during the series. Bartlett took 5-51 in the first innings of that first game.

No wonder John Reid moved heaven and earth to have him in his side to tour South Africa in 1961-62. After all the heavy fire New Zealand's batsmen took in South Africa on their 1953-54 tour, Bartlett represented prospective payback.

Not that he was at full strength during the tour, but his mere presence in the New Zealand attack was sufficient to give his side a significant weapon.

Then in 1968 in one of the great New Zealand Test victories he took six wickets in India's second innings at Lancaster Park to set up a win, having started his destructive spell with an old ball that was like a cloth.

It is an indictment of New Zealand's failure to utilise available technical information that cricket has seemed to be perpetually inventing the wheel. Egos have too often got in the way of common sense as coaches think they know best often failing to call on expertise that has been exposed to problems that all new international players experience at some stage or another.

Bartlett is but one example of a technician who had much to offer. Certainly the number of Central Districts cricketers who have sought him should be evidence enough of the value he could be.

His story, Meteor Over Marlborough, should be not only a faithful record of a player who made a difference but also a reminder that there is nothing new under the cricketing sun, and somewhere, someone else has experienced problems and could have information to help players out.

The intellectual property available in New Zealand comes from too small a pool for this realisation to be ignored and so far as Bartlett is concerned it is a case of what might have been had he been able to work with more young bowlers.

Book Review: Shane Bond delivers bouncer

Shane Bond was a meteor flashing across New Zealand's cricketing sky.

Fast bowlers of his quality have been few and far between. It's not quite as rare as seeing Halley's Comet every 75-odd years but it's not far away.

You could name them during New Zealand's Test history as being Richard Hadlee, Gary Bartlett, Bond and perhaps Jack Cowie.

Looking Back, Shane Bond with Dylan Cleaver. Published by Hodder Moa

Bond was different in so many ways. He had been a first-class player for several seasons before he acquired the speed that made him such an impact player. He had a career away from cricket, as a policeman, and that training was where he recovered the stability in his fitness that allowed him to prosper for New Zealand.

He broke down regularly as his back failed to last the distance. But when he was on song, he was outstanding.

It's a measure of his quality to see some of the batsmen he regularly dismissed.

In Tests, where he took 87 wickets he had Ramnaresh Sarwan four times, Chris Gayle, Sanath Jayasuriya, Brian Lara and Virender Sehwag three times each.

But ever more impressively among his 147 ODI victims were: Ricky Ponting seven times, Brad Haddin four, Gayle, Adam Gilchrist, Damian Martyn and Sehwag three times each.

That was the beauty of Bond, he got the good batsmen out. Who will forget his effort at Eden Park against the West Indies when they needed 291 to win and were cruising at 157-1 when Bond removed Sarwan to an injury before claiming when he returned but then claiming Lara with the next ball.

He then came back after a minor recovery to end the resistance and take a five-wicket bag for a 27-run win.

It was the same in the summer of 2009-10 in his solitary Test, at Dunedin, against Pakistan when on the final afternoon it seemed the Pakistan side might be stealing a win before Bond and Iain O'Brien produced a stunning display of determination and speed to seal another win by 32 runs.

That was Bond, calm under pressure.

It must have been quite a shock for NZ Cricket chief executive Justin Vaughan to see Bond explode in Vaughan's office when he realised he had been hung out to dry by NZC after he followed the book in seeking approval to play in the Indian Cricket League.

The details of the volte-face by Vaughan are included at the start of Bond's story 'Looking Back' and they are an indictment of the methodology by which cricket operates. NZC has every reason to be grateful that Bond did not take them to court. The consequences would surely have strained the exchequer.

Sadly the ineptitude of the New Zealand administration is a reflection of that which guides the game at international level and which has so far proven unable to come to grips with the many issues now confronting the game.

But Bond, who was treated unfairly by armchair critics hiding behind the anonymity of talkback radio throughout his career, has shown his mettle and fortunately for cricket bears no apparent grudges toward the game. Central Districts' bowlers are going to be the immediate beneficiaries of his skills which will fortunately not be lost to the game.

His story will be a reminder of the fleeting moments of delight he brought to New Zealand's game, a genuine fast bowler, who had a happy knack of knocking over top-quality batsmen but also represented is the changing nature of the relationship between players and administrators, and sadly it is the players who so far appear best to have appreciated the requirements of professionalism.