KEY POINTS:
Richard Branson can keep his commercial space flights, a trip to inner space would be more interesting - the inner space between the ears of Mathew Sinclair, that is.
It would be a fascinating journey, seeing what was kicking around in his grey matter.
To say that Sinclair thinks a bit 'differently' would be to understate it.
This is a bloke who went on radio not long ago and said he didn't think Jamie How would mind him saying that he wasn't in a great head space.
Ah, yes, I think he would actually, just like Sinclair was probably mortified when former national coach John Bracewell made a similar statement about him when the English were out last season.
But if How has any feelings for his Central Districts' side, he will forgive Sinclair pretty quickly because this is also a bloke who has compiled 84 not out, 92, 31 and 97 in his four State Shield innings.
Not bad for a player who would say he was more suited to the longer forms of cricket. Which, while we're on the subject, he has done OK at this season too if this little string of numbers is anything to go by: 11, 58, 101, 22 not out, 108, 52 not out, 164.
You'd think those numbers would have 'next cab off the rank' written all over them but the chances are the selectors would rather use a rickshaw than go there again.
The knowledge that you could continue in a Bradmanesque vein and not sway the national panel would be enough to remove the bounce from anybody's step but, if anything, Skippy Sinclair seems to be having a ball.
He has said he's not thinking about a recall and is taking more enjoyment from watching young players "step up" under his watch.
He's captaining CD for the first time and their season is mirroring that of their helmsman, with one State Shield loss the only blight.
The words 'Mathew Sinclair' and 'captain' were ones that few could imagine would work together well in the same sentence but perhaps that is all he ever needed - to feel integral to the fate of his team.
Although he has been the backbone of CD's batting for years, this is probably the first time he's felt it absolutely vital that he scores runs.
He wants to be "inspirational", he said after his match-winning 97 as CD chased down 294 to beat Canterbury in his former home town of Palmerston North on Friday.
It is not surprising Sinclair feels this way. It would be completely understandable that the 33-year-old craves a type of obeisance because Sinclair hasn't always enjoyed the respect of his colleagues.
Take this excerpt from Craig McMillan's autobiography, published last year.
"Mathew Sinclair is a strange fellow," he writes, tipping off the reader to his feelings for his former team-'mate' with all the subtlety you've come to expect from the former international.
"I have known 'Skippy' since we toured Australia in 1995 on an under-19 tour. To be honest, he hasn't changed one little bit. Things he was being told on that tour are still being told to him. I'm sure his inability to listen and make changes to his batting has cost him plenty of games for New Zealand over the years."
McMillan might just find Skippy has changed a bit in the past six months. He might find he's no longer willing to play the doormat like he did when he was in the national side.
He's writing a book, for a start, having it ghosted for him by a mate in the Hawke's Bay. Macca might find he gets his literary comeuppance.
You have to hope Sinclair takes a warts-and-all approach to the task. It doesn't have to be a bitter book to be revealing but, let's face it, he has plenty to be bitter about.
He's seen lesser players being given opportunities. Nobody in the side at the moment comes close to his first-class figures. He has 26 centuries - remarkable for a guy who has not played county cricket - and an average of 48. He had certain fragilities that were exposed in test cricket but he was also never afforded the luxury of feeling sure of his spot in the side like, say, an Astle or a Styris during their long unbroken tenures in the national team.
It was almost pathetic watching him against England in the home series last summer. He was walking to the crease not with a bat but with a sword given to him by Damocles.
His confidence had been stripped away to the point where it had an almost physical manifestation - he looked gaunt and in the end, it would have been kinder to have dropped him before the final test at Napier.
Free-thinking CD coach Dermot Reeve seems to have been able to get inside Sinclair's head and they are reaping the rewards.
Perhaps, just perhaps, Glenn Turner and John Wright should pay Reeve a visit and ask him what the view's like inside Skippy's mind at the moment. It'd be terrific if he could let us all know.
