David Leggat: Young Guns shoot the breeze in timely reunion

Gavin Larsen.

Each year at test time, Wellington hosts a New Zealand team of yesteryear.

It is entirely appropriate that this weekend's gathering at the Basin Reserve is of the 1992 World Cup group. One year out from the second cup tournament to be co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand and there's a good vibe that something special is coming.

Some of the waistlines are thicker, the odd grey hair is sprouting through but these men will have plenty to talk over.

Theirs was a special bond in a special time for the game in this country.

Nine of the Young Guns of 1992 - and that remains one of the corniest monikers for a New Zealand team, considering John Wright was 37 and Ian Smith turned 35 during the cup - are assembling for this reunion.

The tales will grow with each retelling but these men should enjoy reliving the camaraderie which drew them together over a wonderful month.

The five players who won't be in Wellington are batsmen Wright and Ken Rutherford, bowlers Danny Morrison and Willie Watson and allrounder Chris Cairns.

That leaves captain Martin Crowe, Mark Greatbatch, Andrew Jones, Dipak Patel, Rod Latham, Chris Harris, Ian Smith, Murphy Su'a and Gavin Larsen to reminisce.

Larsen is now on the World Cup organising committee and is MC'ing events around the country leading up to the big event.

At one yesterday to announce the start of general public ticket sales, a panel of Sir Richard Hadlee, Crowe, Indian Sunny Gavaskar and Australian Dean Jones talked World Cups past.

Gavaskar was a wonderfully compact opener, India's finest batsman until Sachin Tendulkar started ripping up record books. He recalled winning the 1983 tournament in England as the greatest moment of his stellar career.

Crowe remembered that once Australia had been beaten in possibly New Zealand's most famous ODI - or certainly in the grand final with the underarm game at Melbourne in 1981 - at Eden Park which opened the tournament and the team got on a roll "all of a sudden the whole of New Zealand lit up".

Jones, a terrific attacking batsman, an extrovert who played his cricket with a cheerful swagger, chipped in that Australia vs New Zealand was a case of "good vs evil", and everyone chuckled along.

There's a rich anticipation building, just as there was in 1992, which turned out to be a golden summer which will always hold a special place in New Zealand's cricket folklore.

What price something similar next year?

If New Zealand can carry their ODI form on from now, they would have to be among the more fancied teams. After all it's being played in their back yard, half of it anyway.

When England's manager Alf Ramsey was asked whether his team could win soccer's World Cup in 1966, a couple of years out from the event, he was mildly surprised by the question.

"Of course we can win it," he said.

England had everything in their favour, notably home venue.

New Zealand should feel the same way.