"It was pretty natural for all of us because we liked the game," says Cornwall captain Jacob Smith before leading his troops out against Complete Flooring Napier Technical Old Boys (NTOB) in the Pay Excellence premier men's one-day final in Napier today.
"He [Ian] didn't push us to play cricket but it was an easy option when we were young because we all enjoyed it," says the 23-year-old, who is in crisp form after scoring an unbeaten century against the villagers last Saturday.
No doubt the senior Smith, who is patron of Cornwall club, helped them when they approached him.
"He was a right-handed wicketkeeper so I didn't have much in common with him but he had more experience than all of us.
"It was tough to live up to what he did so we chose to just be batsmen and bowlers," says the left-handed opening batsman, who also bowls medium pacers.
For the record, Jarrod, 29, gravitated towards soccer, becoming an All Whites striker who later plied his trade abroad as a professional.
The former Kinetic Electrical Hawke's Bay United player is enjoying cricket while recovering from an on-going Achilles injury.
It begs the question if the eldest son could have progressed further with cricket.
"I'm almost certain that's not the case," says the former Major League Soccer (American) player, who sees the irony in playing cricket free of injuries while waiting for his career-shortening Achilles injury to heal.
As a youngster he always felt the demands of playing cricket from his father and other people.
"I think he [Ian] knows I was better off in football," says Jarrod, adding there's a mutual sense of respect that kicks in by default through seeking cricketing advice from his old man.
Essentially he feels it'll be hard to replicate the great experience he has had against "some of the best [soccer] players in the world".
Jarrod has carved a niche as a middle-order batsman for Cornwall and has reliable hands while fielding.
Jacob reckons Jarrod's cricketing prowess as a youngster is paying dividends so he has that "competitive [streak] that gets us over the line".
Angus, 18, is a left-arm spin bowler/batsman who, like Jacob, has been through the motions of Central Districts and Hawke's Bay age-group representative competition.
The three of them have together played sporadically for the Cornwall Prems team this summer, including last Saturday's semifinal, but Angus isn't available for today's final.
The former Lindisfarne College pupil is in his first year of a law and commerce degree.
"He'll go down the academic way," Jacob says of Angus, who is still playing cricket for the varsity team.
"He's got the brains in the family."
Jarrod has handed in his notice making pallets in Napier and will head off to Auckland next weekend. He has designs on obtaining tertiary qualifications in business and/or sports and recreation.
"I've always been smart as a lad but I loved sports so I pursued it and gave it a pretty good go."
He accepts his professional soccer career is in its twilight days and he has no qualms about letting it go.
"My next chapter is for money making and I know labouring is not for me so I have to get educated and get it down."
He would have liked to return to the United States, where it all started for him as a college scholarship student, to fulfil that academic goal but a Major League Soccer draft didn't allow him to finish his degree.
"Luckily society now is more accepting about older people like me going back to school."
On the soccer front, Jarrod is trying to secure a berth with Birkenhead FC, where he has friends, who begin their Northern Premier League campaign today.
"The reality is my last injury is just the tip of the iceberg," he reveals, mindful Birkenhead coaches will ease him into the beautiful game after his lengthy layoff.
Unlike Jacob and Angus, Jarrod did slip on gloves to keep wicket like Ian, especially a few times when he was a boarder at Palmerston North Boys' High School first XI team with then-future Black Cap and good friend Ross Taylor.
"I also kept wicket for Cornwall when Seb [Langridge] was away with the Hawke's Bay [senior men's] team."
Jarrod didn't waltz into the premier cricket scene expecting to "blow away everyone" this summer, but "I knew I could do it".
If Jacob, Jarrod, Langridge, seamer Liam Dudding and veteran spinner Jonathon Hall fire today, then Cornwall will prevail.
Interestingly, Jarrod is on the cusp of stealing the thunder from Jacob and Langridge.
He has racked up 478 runs for Cornwall this season, averaging 39 per game.
He sits above Jacob in the laws of average (38) but his younger brother has amassed 495 runs, including two centuries, this season.
Langridge, also a Bay century-maker, has the most runs, 550, but an inferior average of 32.
Cornwall director of cricket David Black will be reaching for his calculator about 6pm today to see who will etch their names on the silverware at the Hastings pavilion at the season-ending prize-giving tonight. Jarrod, who carved up his maiden ton for the Lincoln Doull-coached Bay men against Wanganui in Marton this summer, isn't all that fussed.
"As long as one of us does the job, it'll be great because it's all about winning," says the former Havelock North High School pupil.
He hastens to add he'd like to eclipse the highest-run-scorer total considering he hasn't picked up a bat in more than decade, "especially against Seb".
Jacob is also migrating north to Auckland in winter in search of employment, "and then who knows in summer".
Doing a "cruisy job" here in the packaging industry, he realises the time has come to find a niche in paving a career.
Asked if he should have made the CD Stags, the former Lindisfarne College pupil replies: "I don't think I've done enough ... I didn't make enough runs for Hawke's Bay."
He believes Langridge did put his hand up for a place with the Stags.
The wicketkeeper also is returning to his hometown on the other side of the Bombay Hills, so the final is his swansong for Cornwall.
"Seb should have got a dig and he kept well," Jacob says of the 23-year-old who has travelled and lived here for the past four summers.
His father, Gary Langridge, was a CD batsman (1976-82) when he lived here and ran a sports shop in Hastings with fellow first-class cricketer David O'Sullivan before moving to the big smoke.
The junior Langridge decided to move here to play cricket, thinking he had a better chance of making it into domestic cricket. Seb represented CD A this summer.
Black says Langridge this summer conceded five byes in 20 games.
Jacob says the final will be dedicated to Langridge as added motivation for a teammate who probably would have got into CD if incumbent veteran Kruger van Wyk was injured because the latter is a "solid player".
