Cricket: Sh...Ocker start to ND bid for title

Northern Districts' policy of sending players to Australia's eastern seaboard for pre-season warm-up matches is paying Plunket Shield dividends.

ND tops the table after two rounds following outright victories over Otago and Central Districts. That's the first time they've won back-to-back matches at the start of a season since 2000-01. It coincides with six of their squad going across the Tasman to avoid the local spring gloom.

All-rounder Joseph Yovich is a key example. He's returned from plying his trade at Sydney's Sutherland District Cricket Club on the Glenn McGrath Oval. Yovich has made a century and fifty in his two first-class innings so far and backed it up with four wickets, averaging a shade over 27 with the ball.

"It's quite tough during our winters, even up north, where it's still a bit damp. Even the surfaces we've been training on [in Australia] are as good as any first class wickets in New Zealand."

The lure of decent early season pitches also saw Daniel Flynn (Gordon), Trent Boult (Canterbury Bankstown) and James Marshall (Easts) head to Sydney, while Brad Wilson and Michael Parlane made the trip to the Sunshine Coast to play for the Nambour Cutters.

Coach Grant Bradburn, in his first season as official coach after stepping in for Andy Moles last year, wanted to address the fact the team has been a notoriously bad starter in recent years. He said Australia is the missing piece in the puzzle.

"It's so hard to replicate match conditions here early on. Most of the players in Australia were practising on grass wickets twice a week. In response, we're going to allow some of the Australian youth players to come into our environment over summer and possibly play with the A team."

New Zealand Cricket CEO Justin Vaughan is in favour of the plan even if it means first-class players are away from their clubs, sacrificing one of only a few chances to be part of the grassroots scene.

"That time of year is before our season's commenced properly so it's really not an issue. We believe it's better our top cricketers prepare outdoors on grass, it's one of the principles behind the live-in academy in Christchurch and increasing the investment in winter tours to the sub-continent and northern Australia."

Yovich says he considers himself a club man but such opportunities give his season a head start.

"I try to get back when I can to support my City club [in Whangarei] because that's where it started for me but it's Twenty20 at that time of year. You're also playing on artificials and it's usually wet. I've never had an issue with the resources clubs offer but, as professionals, we've got to perform when we hit the first class scene.

"I'd head to a club training with the likes of [former New Zealand coach] Steve Rixon and [former Australian fast bowler] Lenny Pascoe involved. We also had Phil Jaques , Shane Watson and Andre Adams joining the line-up at various times - that's not bad for club cricket. The policy is you're allowed one pro in the team which they can switch during the season, meaning a Kiwi can join early on, followed by other international players later."

Yovich says the move's underpinned by a rare amateur ethos in a time where lucrative offers envelop the game's upper echelons.

"Do I go for a wage? No, I go off my own bat. They put me up. I lived with former Kangaroo Jason Stevens. So I don't pay a cent in accommodation, but getting myself over there and living expenses were my own."

Bradburn said the policy is not the only reason ND has excelled so far this season.

"We also chose to keep our powder dry and play our age grade squad rather than major associations over a two week warm-up period. That meant younger players saw what it's like at the top and older players know who's pushing them.

"It's been gold for us, the players are also fitter than ever and we've implemented significant changes in their net practices. I can't give away too many trade secrets - other than to say we've tried to identify the skills needed to prepare separately for each form of the game."