Blackcaps Devon Conway during play on day one of the first cricket test between Bangladesh and New Zealand at Bay Oval in Mount Maunganui. Photo / Photosport.co.nz
Blackcaps Devon Conway during play on day one of the first cricket test between Bangladesh and New Zealand at Bay Oval in Mount Maunganui. Photo / Photosport.co.nz
Chris Rattue lists his winners and losers from the weekend of sport.
Winner:
Devon Conway has just enough time to become a Kiwi cricket great.
The 30-year-old South African import has left his international run late, but Conway already looms as good enough to one day join Kane Williamson, MartinCrowe, Ross Taylor and Glenn Turner in our greatest ever batting lineup of the last 50 years or so.
Conway - who has plundered the Bangladesh attack - looks so assured and is already putting up wonderful numbers.
He is more than capable of averaging in the mid to high 40s for tests, and should have just enough time to amass the runs needed to make a case for admittance into the pantheon.
It shapes as a wonderful six or seven years watching him try to do so, given the way he bats.
There is one major proviso with this prediction - will opponents find a chink in his game?
This reminds me of a particularly enjoyable summer covering domestic cricket long ago, when Zimbabwean Graeme Hick was on the rampage for Northern Districts.
Hick was going through a long stand down before taking the field for England in the early 1990s.
By the time he made his test debut, just about everyone thought he was certain to become a batting legend.
But test cricket proved beyond his apparent super powers, either technically and/or mentally. His average of around 30 was a failure of sorts in any language, and particularly for a player of his potential who had attracted such fanfare.
Will Young of the Black Caps during play on day one of the first cricket test between Bangladesh and New Zealand at Bay Oval in Mount Maunganui. Photo / Photosport.co.nz
In comparison, Conway is a come-from-nowhere character, and maybe all the better for that.
He looks well honed - mentally and shot wise - by the school of hard knocks and his desperation to succeed.
Winner:
Another great Nick Kyrgios serve
I've always liked the controversial Australian tennis player.
Kyrgios does things his way. He's got a brilliant array of unique shots, on an off the court.
And he's gone against the public outrage drift, and his perceived attitude to Novak Djokovic, with great comments during the Australian Open controversy which saw the anti-vax Serb superstar turfed into a detention facility.
As Kyrgios said about Djokovic : "He's human and I just want him to be treated like one."
Excellent point.
Winner/Loser:
Good oil?
All Whites striker and captain Chris Wood is in demand, with Newcastle reportedly bidding for his services from English Premier League relegation rivals Burnley.
It would be a surprise if Burnley let Wood go early, but it's nice to be wanted…and in the news.
Newcastle are famous for having England's most passionate fans, despite years of failure, and were mired in controversy last year when bought by a Saudi Arabian outfit determined to turn them into a major force.
Their chase for Wood is a rare glamour headline for New Zealand football, which operates in some pretty dark corners.
Unfortunately, the game has never been able to make enough of our overseas based success stories like Ryan Nelsen, Winston Reid and Wood.
Riding on their coat tails is a difficult ask, but Wood operates in relative obscurity given that he has been a fairly successful striker (although he is struggling this year) in the highest profile league in the world.
Winner:
Back to the cricket…
…it's been another wonderful summer of action so far, on both sides of the Tasman.
Loser:
Our cricket venues.
There is the same battle every summer - a choice between watching the New Zealand team in action, or flicking channels to watch what is going on in Australia.
And it is very hard to compete with a magnificent place like the Sydney Cricket Ground.
Winner:
Hagley Oval
New Zealand cricket should get ruthless and always start its campaigns at Hagley Oval, where the Kiwi team looks so at home and has a great record.
Bangladesh are unlikely to have won the opening encounter had it been played in Christchurch, and New Zealand would then have been far better prepared for the second match at Mt Maunganui.
Australia has used the Gabba in Brisbane to give their side the best chance of a winning start to the summer, which is what home advantage is all about.
Winner:
Super Rugby's new turf war…maybe
The new Moana Pasifika outfit has lined up Nico Jones, son of the All Black genius Michael Jones, for its squad. Their battle on and off the field with their crosstown rivals the Blues could make for great sport, the sort we are starved of in this country. But if it is going to work, outspoken combatants need to be found. That will be the difficult part in secretive rugby lalaland. My plea: come on troops - get this rivalry boiling.
