CRICKET - Yovich's Oz trip all about putting Northern in lights

When it comes to loyalty, Joseph Yovich has precious few peers. Especially when it comes to defending Northland's sporting honour and, in particular, Northland cricket.
Which is why the 30-year-old allrounder is already en route to Sydney for a six-week cricket stint.
That may sound a touch hypocritical, but it all makes good sense to Yovich as he prepares for a his 12th season as a contracted Northern Districts (ND) first-class player. Yovich is eyeing up a couple of significant career milestones with ND this summer, so the Sydney club cricket scene will be a launching pad for a potentially record-breaking summer.
But Yovich's ND cricket career nearly stopped at the end of last season, when he suddenly found himself courting offers from the Auckland and Otago first-class outfits.
In the end, connections to his roots in Northland proved too compelling. Now he wants to make an indelible mark on the ND record books.
The temptation to sign with Otago, in particular, added some angst to his off-season, though.
"It was really tough. I have always been a big stalwart of ND cricket, but the big thing was my links to Northland," Yovich said.
"I want to put something back and finish my game in Northland, that was important to me."
His stint in Sydney comes with some intrigue as well, as Yovich will not only end up taking the field with Australian cricket legend Glenn McGrath in the Summerland A-grade side, but has also booked in some training sessions with the Cronulla Sharks NRL league squad.
No, that doesn't mean Yovich is looking to fine-tune his grapple tackle technique.
Yes, it does mean he will be sweating it out, running sand dunes with the likes of Brett Kimmorley and Paul Gallen.
It is all part of a masterplan to try and knock off a trio of cricketing milestones Yovich now has in his sights, statistical records he thought might not ever eventuate when he suddenly found himself dropped from the ND squad last season.
But his resilience paid off. He is now back in the fold and hoping ND can make a bold statement this summer.
"You don't have to be a rocket scientist to see that last year, behind the scenes, things got a bit messy. We seem to have solved a lot of that. I want to stamp my mark, firstly by getting over to Sydney and getting into some good form and shape coming back and utilising that for what is looking like a pretty good season," he said.
"I think I am only four first-class wickets from moving to second on the all-time bowling list for ND and I think the top five are all spinners. There's only 60-odd runs to get 3000 first-class runs and six wickets to get 100 one-day wickets, as well.
"All those things would be nice to conquer.
"What happened last year, finishing fourth in both competitions, is just not good enough. We want to get back to the top of that ladder again, which is where I think we deserve to be."