Cricket: Neil Wagner's in tune with NZ fans

Bowler Neil Wagner, now at home in Papamoa, has gone from little-known battler to a Kiwi sporting folk hero. Photo / Andrew Warner/Bay of Plenty Times

Mike Hesson saw the right stuff the moment he checked out Neil Wagner a decade ago.

Hesson, now lauded as the New Zealand coach, was in charge of Otago when the unheralded South African paceman Wagner was on their radar.

Wading through a pile of tapes, he found one where Wagner's team was in dire straits during a match in his native Pretoria, the fruitless overs mounting up. Yet the youngster was still steaming in as if his life depended on it. Average height. Average build. Attitude anything but average. Otago had found their man.

Fast forward to Hesson's last game in charge of Otago, and nothing had changed. Late in the day, season just about over, nothing on the match. Wagner still kept charging, and took a world record five Wellington wickets in one over.

It's the Neil Wagner the rest of New Zealand sport has come to know and love, particularly after the lower order batsman joined Ish Sodhi for 188 deliveries fending off an England barrage in Christchurch to claim a rare test series victory.

But it's left-armer Wagner's own bumper war against the rest of world cricket that is grabbing the headlines and turning him into an unlikely Kiwi sporting folk hero.

He has charged out of the large shadows cast by star opening bowlers Trent Boult and Tim Southee like a man possessed, virtually inventing a new form of bowling in the process.

Hesson has been emphasising analysis beyond "traditional statistics", and in this, Wagner looks even better.

The outstanding Kiwi medium-fast trio are making similar contributions overall. But when you consider that Wagner misses out on using the shiny new ball, he stands out with an average around 25 over the past four years.

Maybe only England's whippy Mark Wood has tried the Wagner way, but the Kiwi is in a league of his own as the aggressive first change bowler in world cricket.

Every Wagner over is stacked with deliveries aimed fair and square at the batter's torso, although not bouncing high enough to break the bouncer limits. Batsmen are faced with constant physical concerns and high risk scoring options, yet Wagner can also draw on his past and throw down a swinging delivery.

Extraordinary heart and stamina are needed to keep this bowling attack up, where every ball is a huge effort ball.

Neil Wagner celebrates a wicket. Photo / photosport.nz

Time to meet the man, to get a few hints at how he does it.

Wagner and his wife Lana have just left Dunedin for a new home at Papamoa Beach on the fringe of Tauranga.

That's where the Herald on Sunday visited him this week, and the hospitable cricketer talked about the pivotal moments in his life, and where that fierce streak may have come.

When, I ask, did he finally feel he had arrived in the New Zealand side?

Because after completing the four-year international stand down period, he was only a spasmodic selection initially.

That moment arrived when breaking the resistance of Sri Lanka in Dunedin just over two years ago by bowling captain Angelo Mathews.

"It was a 10-over spell, and I just bowled bouncers," the 32-year-old says. "People like [Black Caps opener] Tom Latham had often suggested I play to my strength and concentrate on the bouncers. But it was the first time it really fell into place.

"It got to the point where I had set Mathews up, and Tim Southee came up and said don't be shy of aiming a yorker at leg stump. I bowled a perfect one. It was an extremely special moment, a team-oriented effort, after a discussion that went around the players. It made me feel part of something bigger."

There was also an influential delivery many years earlier.

It came in the form of a tennis ball weighted by insulation tape wrapping and delivered by one of two much older brothers. It smacked a very young Wagner in the ear and when he made to complain and cry was told in no uncertain terms to harden up.

"We played a lot of back yard cricket, and what was supposed to be touch rugby which always ended up with contact. I wouldn't say I was bullied, but I had to fight for things."

Then, around the age of 13, his parents Steve and Doreen, who were in a real estate partnership, lost their jobs. The family lost their home, and times were tough. When his cricket bat broke, a family friend who owned a sports store provided the replacement. It took his parents five years to re-establish themselves, with gardening and catering businesses.

"We had to scratch back from the bottom," he says. "It was tough. We had to cut out a lot of things. We had a lot of people to thank for helping.

"It was a big shock, and it has played a massive part in who I am today. It taught me a lot, not to take things for granted, and to be grateful."

He also nails down specific moments when famous cricketers left their mark on the youngster. The most important was a ferocious spell of bowling from South African great Allan Donald, met with heroic resistance by England opener Mike Atherton.

"There were a lot of stares and glares in the middle of the wicket, and I remember getting absolute goose bumps," he says.

He got a taste of test cricket from South Africa, as a young player, carrying the drinks against Pakistan and New Zealand at Centurion, getting to field in both games. But his prospects stalled, partly because there was a crop of amazing South African fast bowlers on the rise.

The thirst he had developed for test cricket watching Donald was not going to be quenched by dishing out drinks. He tried the county scene but when on the verge of a contract with Sussex, the touring New Zealand cricketer Grant Elliott called with the Otago idea. Wagner had impressed as a net bowler against the Kiwis in Manchester.

"I already had a love of New Zealand sport, the All Blacks, the Crusaders, the haka — the passion always stood out," he says.

The rest is becoming remarkable history.

The art of what Wagner does can be easily lost, but make no mistake — it is gruelling hurling down bouncer after bouncer with such accuracy and almost always when the ball is losing shine.

A typical pre-season Wagner training session goes something like this: he sprints 100m, 200m, 300m and 400m with just a minute's rest in between, four times. After a quick rest and refuel, it's off to the gym for 90 minutes of further torture.

"You feel like you want to spew your guts out," he says.

It is also a surprise to learn he rarely bowls a bouncer at net practice, working on other skills instead.

"I might bowl one a session, just to tick that feeling," he says. "It takes that much energy and hard work, you don't want to do too much of it.

"I always feel that if I can nail a good length at the start [of a bowling spell], I can then go to the bouncer. It is actually hard to get it accurate right from the start.

"I know it has been a bit controversial but test cricket is hard, that's why it is called test cricket."

Now ranked in the world's top 10 bowlers, with 149 test wickets under the belt, Wagner is re-evaluating his career direction.

Neil and Lana celebrated four years of marriage this week. They had been friends in Pretoria before Wagner headed to New Zealand and only caught up again in Cape Town, in 2013, when Wagner was 12th man for New Zealand.

The New Zealanders were bowled out for 45 in that game — Neil and Lana began to be bowled over in other ways and became engaged six months later.

Wagner is hoping the move to Mt Maunganui — a number of top cricketers including good mate Boult live nearby — will further energise his career with new challenges (it is still uncertain if he will keep playing for Otago). The climate is superb and they have friends in the area, which is nice for Lana as the wife of a professional cricketer often on the road.

He heads to England late this month for another stint with Essex, where he will play only a few four-day games while trying to further his long shot dream of making the New Zealand ODI and T20 teams.

As a test-only player, Wagner's yearly earnings including the county cricket contract might be lucky to crack an estimated $200,000. This is in an era where some players are multi millionaires — Black Caps captain Kane Williamson's yearly earnings are estimated to be about $1m.

Wagner said: "I don't have a specific white ball plan, just whatever complements the New Zealand team. Whoever I play for, I do it for the team. The rest will take care of itself. I won't lie ... the way I bowl is tough work. But representing New Zealand with a bunch of mates motivates you.

"Money has never been my main motivation. It's the look on all your team-mates' faces, like after the win over England at Eden Park.

"Sitting there with the black cap on your head, the relief after five days of absolutely hard work. That's what makes me the way I am and do what I do. There is no better feeling than winning a test match."