Tim Seifert had two reasons to want to be playing cricket in the United Kingdom in June and July, but unfortunately for the Northern Districts wicketkeeper, he's missed out on two golden opportunities.
Seifert was one of the unlucky contenders who missed out on a spot in the Black CapsCricket World Cup squad yesterday, edged out by fellow gloveman Tom Blundell for the back-up wicket-keeping role.
While that was an understandably disappointing blow, Seifert had also been carrying the hope that he might be able to pick up an English county cricket gig, and be an observer (and potential replacement) at the World Cup, while getting valuable high-level experience.
However, as he tells it, he fell just short of that goal too.
"Unfortunately with the county stuff you have to play 15 white ball games for New Zealand, or one test match, and I'm on 14 white ball games at the moment so I just miss out," he told Radio Sport.
"I could have been over there playing while the World Cup is on, it would be have been awesome, but once again, you can't have everything, and hopefully I'll shoot over there next year."
You could forgive the 24-year-old for having a gloomy outlook given both disappointments, but Seifert is keeping a positive attitude about his near misses, having spoken to the Black Caps coaches and selectors about what he needs to work on to find his way back into the national one-day frame.
"As a player you always want to be involved but I've had a good discussion with the selectors and I've got a few things to work on.
"It's just a matter of being as tidy as you can behind the stumps, and with the bat, how the game is changing, it's about going out there and reading the situations and playing what's in front of you.
"Don't get me wrong, you want to play as much as you can while you're young, but it's just part of sport, and you've just got to take these [disappointments] as ways to just go out there and train harder and become a better player."
Tim Seifert missed out on selection for the Cricket World Cup. Photo / Getty
He won't be short of potential mentors as he looks to improve his glovework, but is also aware of the need to take the initiative himself.
"I've had a couple of good discussions with guys like Gareth Hopkins, obviously he's been involved with Northern Districts, and Brendon McCullum, hopefully I can tap into his skills.
"Having Luke Ronchi around in New Zealand a bit more with him just playing T20s, and Martyn Croy, there are guys around that you can definitely chip away at. But for me, you can talk to people about keeping but at the end of the day it's just trying to get guys to work with you and do the drill work, instead of just talking about it."
Seifert, who is currently recovering from a broken finger, could still be on call as an injury replacement if required, and is hoping to be part of the Black Caps' three camps in Christchurch this month, as well as their three warm-up matches against Australia in Brisbane in May.
"I'll hopefully just be involved down in Lincoln with New Zealand high performance and working hard down there in the grass marquee over the winter."
