Cricket: Baby Janrich good omen for CD

CD Stags coach Heinrich Malan made a beeline to see wife Jana for the birth of their second child, son Janrich, on Wednesday. PHOTO/FILE

"It's all part of the fun," CD Stags coach Heinrich Malan said last night after he was conspicuous in his absence at stumps in Napier.

Malan was referring to having to rush off from the Plunket Shield match at Nelson Park after wife Jana gave birth to their second child, Janrich, a 2.9kg boy at 2.13pm on Wednesday.

"She had a Caesarian-section baby so it was planned as much around him as we could on when he was born," said the South African-born coach, who has a 3-year-old daughter, Mila.

"I rushed off yesterday [Wednesday] and spent the whole afternoon with mum and baby and then I was back on duty today."

The name of the baby is a combination of the parents' names (pronounced Yarnrick).

He was delighted with the winless Stags turning their fortunes around after an anaemic first-innings total on day one on Tuesday but going into today's final day in a position to dictate the outcome of the round-five affair.

His mantra is pretty straightforward: "If we look after the small things, session by session, then we don't have to look at the result, with the W to sign off a great week."

Malan ruled CD batsmen were free to play for their provinces in Furlong Cup qualifiers at the weekend but not bowlers, who will be back to start training for the McDonald's Super Smash T20 campaign starting in 10 days.

"Unfortunately no batsmen will run out for Hawke's Bay, who have all bowlers," he said.