KEY POINTS:
LONDON - Aaron Redmond strode on to Lord's this week with some simple advice ringing in his ears: relax and enjoy the experience.
The adviser? His father Rodney, someone well qualified on handling the stress of a test debut.
The proud dad, who will be perched on the
edge of his lounge chair in the Perth suburb of Como, admits he will probably have more jitters than his laidback son when he marks his guard at the home of cricket.
"I'll be watching every ball, for sure," Rodney Redmond said.
"I'm a bit nervous but that's understandable.
"It's a big honour, let's face it. He's just got to stand up and believe in himself - they all do."
A month ago Aaron Redmond's life changed with a call from selector Sir Richard Hadlee as he caught up with his father, mother Brenda and elder sister Nadine in Perth.
He was preparing to return to England, home of his partner, Katie Fleetwood, and play league cricket for Wigan.
Instead he returned with a black cap and a ticket to the visitors' dressing room at the home of cricket.
A beaming father and son celebrated on the spot with a handshake and a bottle of red wine.
"It was a big surprise. He's waited a long time for the opportunity," Redmond snr said.
It didn't take long to register the inevitable, that his own remarkable cricket story would get plenty of retelling.
Rodney Redmond was the same age as his son now, 28, when he got the call to face Pakistan at Auckland's Eden Park in 1973.
His debut double of 107 and 56 wrote him into New Zealand cricketing folklore, as did the subsequent tour of England where he struggled for form, partly due to contact lens problems, and he never played another test.
Thirty-five years on, the Perth accountant is over it and hoped it would not detract from his son's big moment.
"It's unfortunate he has to be reminded of it.
"It was a long time ago and I'm past that now. Things didn't work out the way I'd hoped, but there were a lot of good players in New Zealand who weren't given a chance. It was still a positive experience."
That experience has rubbed off on the younger Redmond, who soaked up the Lord's atmosphere on Monday feeling good about life.
With 361 runs at an average of 60.17 on tour so far, he's in the right zone for a test debut and relaxed about the prospect of facing the England pacemen.
A call to his father in recent days helped even more.
"He's been great and supportive," Aaron Redmond said.
"He said the biggest thing is when you get an occasion like this you've got to actually enjoy it. You don't want to be too nervous.
"It's an opportunity but it's a game of cricket, so go out and enjoy it."
Patience has been a friend for Perth-born Redmond, who made his first-class debut in the 1999-2000 season.
He admits his attitude was poor when he came to New Zealand Cricket's Academy, when he was better known as a larrikin and a promising legspinner.
He always fancied himself as an opener, and after a pre-season chat last year with Otago coach Mike Hesson he set out to make the spot his own.
"Over the last couple of years I've learned a lot more about myself and the way I play. In the early years, the maturity levels weren't the best.
"As you get older you get a bit wiser and learn a lot more about yourself.
"Sometimes you come to a stage where you've got to make a decision, are you going to mess around or do you want a chance to play for your country and live your dream?"
Redmond used former test and Otago opener Mark Richardson, a batting late bloomer who iced his career with a century at Lord's four years ago, as an inspiration.
"He was a great batter and he didn't have many technical flaws. The biggest thing he brought into the middle was guts and determination.
"Hopefully I'm a little bit faster than him. I think I am anyway."
Redmond, known as a cool customer who's unfazed by the big occasion, does not expect the nerves to be a problem when the first test starts on Thursday night (NZT).
Back home in Perth, things may be a little more tense as the family crowd around the television in the early evening.
"Dad's got a new plasma tv so he'll be sitting back in his chair enjoying it with a quiet red wine. I'm sure he'll be glued to the tv."
- NZPA
