NET SESSION: William Young (left), Seth Rance and Ben Smith put in the hard yards at Nelson Park, Napier, this week. PHOTO/Paul Taylor
LIKE it or not, T20 tends to produce a seemingly self-contradictory mindset to everything one grows up to embrace in trying to master cricket.
Its evolution stems from what was unashamedly a gimmick and is now consistently marketed as the most popular sporting show in town during summer.
For argument's sake, from day dot the little nipper is taught to bowl line and length with military precision in red-ball cricket.
Come the shortest format of the white-ball game, persist with that mantra and chances are the batsmen will pound you mercilessly out of the park because predictability rapidly becomes a recipe for carnage.
If anything, it's the inconsistency in batting and bowling that eventually forms a template for what is in store for a successful short, sharp who's-your-daddy stint.
Put another way, the paradox of T20 is less about technique and increasingly about erratic behaviour that not only keeps park fans or their couch cousins guessing but also bemuses fellow teammates and coaches.
Hey, it's a lottery and someone is bound to get lucky when he finds enough traction with insanity to seal a lucrative deal in competitions based in India, Australia, West Indies or Bangladesh.
With the McDonald's Super Smash starting tomorrow from 2pm around the country, the games begin to find cricketing oxymorons.
The Central Districts Stags open their account against the Canterbury Kings at the picturesque but doormat-sized Pukekura Park, New Plymouth, never mind that Taranaki is the domain of sharemilkers and rain can hold the country's No 1 summer sport to ransom.
Hawke's Bay daily retires for the night in anticipation of rain but its inhabitants are lucky to wake up to find a sprinkling.
But that's another debate for another time because T20 has enough variables to keep everyone scratching their head until it bleeds.
For CD skipper William Young it's his home turf and he'll relish the smorgasbord at CD's official home of T20.
Young says Pukekura Park is the day venue and the matches at Yarrow Stadium come into play with its lighting, first up against the Northern Districts Knights in a televised affair from 7.10pm on Saturday, December 10.
But here's the catch on the Yarrow Stadium real estate.
"It was a drop-in pitch last year and they brought it from Auckland so it turned out to be a slow, dry wicket," says the 24-year-old who is based in Napier these days to enhance his career as a former New Zealand under-19 skipper destined to bat for the Black Caps.
Say what? Does that mean if CD host Auckland then it's fair to assume the Aces will boast a turf advantage away from home?
Needless to say, Young sees the irony in that but, as luck would have it, the Heinrich Malan and Ben Smith-coached Stags host the Aces at Pukekura Park from 4pm on December 29.
"I think last year some of the players and people around the teams who played there weren't too happy with the state of the [Yarrow Stadium] wicket so, hopefully, the wicket's going to be much better this year," he says, revealing it'll remain an Auckland commodity.
Here's to hoping on the promise of "fun and skill on the edge".
Maybe, just maybe, it's CD's time again to again bask in T20 glory.
That deduction comes from the similar sort of logic that tries to make T20 a plausible proposition to gauging a cricketer's worth.
CD have yet to register a win in the first-class, four-day Plunket Shield competition so fuzzy logic suggests their shifting skills should put them in good stead to go berserk in the shortest game.
Of course, lose and the rest of the season may lose its lustre but let's not go down that path right now.
Young hastens to add the inclement weather, Kaikoura earthquake and unforgiving wickets didn't help their cause.
"We did play some very some good cricket so far this season [Plunket Shield]. We're going to take as much confidence out of that as we can and transfer them to the twenty20 competition."
The absence of batsman Jesse Ryder, who is out injured tomorrow, and the again delayed arrival of master batsman Mahela Jayawardene as an import from the Bangladesh T20 tourney makes you go mmm.
Do not be fooled. That young, exciting, inexperienced group of cricketers is now, as assistant coach Smith pointed out, on either side of their mid-20s andare more crease and outfield savvy.
"We are now a side who have a played a reasonable amount of white-ball cricket under pressure so, yeah, it's exciting times with guys like Mahela, Jesse ... ," says Young.
So how is Ryder going amid a vow of silence when it comes to the media?
Young says the controversial former Black Caps batsman isn't on the back foot despite making attempts to play some shield matches since arriving here early from his Essex county season in England witha calf strain.
In his assessment, the pressure hasn't really been on Ryder to perform because other batsmen have put their hands up so far.
"We've scored a lot of runs so he's just about to wade into it. He's that exciting world-class player, you know, and if it's his day then it's his day.
"Jess brings that X-factor to the side and also brings a good sort of relaxed energy to the group so it can be quite refreshing, at times."
Ironically the 32-year-old left-hander, who grew up in Napier, only played one game last season during the T20 campaign due to niggly injuries but has harboured a desire to return to the fold of New Zealand coach Mike Hesson.
Young emphasises the measure of the team is in the ability of their players putting up their hands at different times to do the job.
"By no means do we want to rely on Jesse or Mahela to do the job each and every time.
"Batsmen, bowlers, fielders and everyone have to be involved in everything and each of us has to contribute without relying on just the big guns."
Echoing the sentiments of the Sky TV, Young says the Stags are in a happy place for the T20.
"Again, hopefully, the team can relay some of the confidence and buzz as a group to turn it into performances on the park."It's more of a momentum thing. It's important to start a competition like that well."
In T20 that simply boils down to taking a couple of wins early in the competition to take the pressure off players having to constantly worry about the result.
"From there, it's just a matter of playing and expressing your skills."
In not chasing the elusive win, there's less risk of tripping on the outcome of a game to play one's best cricket.
The other weaponry in the CD artillery include wicketkeeper Dane Cleaver and Tom Bruce who can be devastating when their willow fibres start twitching, as evident in their shield tons in Napier a fortnight ago.
"If you look at our batting line up you'll find batsmen who can take games away from oppositions very quickly and we also have batsmen who can perform different roles for the team," says Young.
Enter the likes of Ben Smith, Young and George Worker who don't let a rush of blood get to their heads too often, especially when the bolshy types have been and gone in quick succession, to tick things over in eating up 20 overs.
"Brucie and Dane, again they have that X-factor and can play some outrageous shots not many other guys can," says the former New Zealand under-19 captain of Cleaver who is in the sights of national selectors as a successor to an ageing incumbent gloveman in the Black Caps' equation.
It's those sort of differences that will become the adhesive element in the CD constitution.
Bruce, of Nelson, is likely to be the tricky-dicky bloke who will get the Stags out of a pickle while Cleaver, of Manawatu, "can play 360 degrees around the park".
However, NTOB's Sri Lankan import, Indika Senarathne, in the Hawke Cup team, was bracketed on standby with Bruce after he injured his wrist in the nets during training on Thursday although the latter had travelled with the team yesterday and looked likely to play.
The omission of red-ball spinner and the highest wicket in last season's shield campaign, Ajaz Patel, raises a few eyebrows although Marty Kain, 28, of Nelson, is traditionally the first-choice tweaker with his grasshopper-like approach to the crease.
"I think it's a completely different challenge and because Ajaz is such a strong performer for us with the red ball means he's really put his name up in lights to fit into the white-ball game this year," says Young of someone pundits see as unlucky not to get even a Black Caps call-up after claiming three five-wicket bags in first-class cricket so far this season.
Kain, he reckons, has had a lot of success over a long time in white-ball format compared with the Aucklander.
"I think now there's an interesting battle for the No 1 spinner with the white ball. The way I see it they are both right up for the task."
A penny for Malan and Smith's thoughts then.
Not every wicket, he says, will justify the selection of two tweakers but CD also have the part-time services of Black Cap Worker and Bruce.
Napier seamer Andrew Mathieson is still recovering from a knee injury but other bowlers such as Black Cap Doug Bracewell, Ben Wheeler, Blair Tickner, Ryan McCone and Seth Rance are fit, touch wood.
He isn't sure of the status of international speed merchant who is still on a long-term injury break.
CD STAGS: William Young (c), Tom Bruce/Indika Senarathne, Doug Bracewell, Dane Cleaver (wk), George Worker, Ben Wheeler, Marty Kain, Blair Tickner, Ryan McCone, Ben Smith, Joshua Clarkson, Seth Rance.
Coach: Heinrich Malan.