Jayden Lennox reacts after taking the wicket of India's K.L. Rahul during the third One-Day International cricket matchat the Holkar Cricket Stadium in Indore. Photo / Indranil Mukherjee, AFP
Jayden Lennox is nothing if not genuine.
The slow left-arm bowler impressed legions of cricket followers around the world this month with his control and guile, as New Zealand beat India in India for the first time in a One-Day International series.
For those closer to home, though, it was what Lennox said after taking 1-42 in his debut appearance for the Black Caps that really gladdened the heart.
While clearly chuffed to ascend to this level and acquit himself so well, Lennox let people know that he hadn’t got there by himself.
Yes, he was the guy who’d done the hard work, but he couldn’t have prospered and persevered without the camaraderie and support of everyone at the Napier Technical Old Boys Cricket Club and the Hawke’s Bay Cricket Association.
Anyone who doubted Lennox’s sincerity need only look at the fact he’s in the Hawke’s Bay side to meet Taranaki in their Hawke Cup challenge, which starts in New Plymouth today.
“I love playing for Hawke’s Bay,” the 31-year-old said before the three-day match at Pukekura Park.
“Looking back to some of those earlier years playing for Hawke’s Bay, the great times were competing for the Hawke Cup and getting the chance to win it. You don’t get that many opportunities to do that in a career so any time that chance does come around, you’ve got to take it.
“It’s even more special when you get to do it with some of your best mates as well.”
This will be Lennox’s fifth Hawke Cup challenge with Hawke’s Bay, highlighted by taking the trophy from Nelson in the 2018/19 season and Canterbury Country in 2023/24.
“My role will be to tie down an end and try to build a partnership with the guys down the other end and make sure the Taranaki batters aren’t going anywhere too quickly,” Lennox said.
“Sometimes it’s relatively dry at Puke Park, so I’ll be licking my lips if it’s a little bit conducive. Otherwise, it’s just about being a little more crafty with the field and trying to manipulate the game a little bit with changes of pace and just hanging in there for mistakes.
“The guys that play this level don’t have that much experience in trying to play the really long game so I suppose that’ll be the challenge for me as well, coming back from white-ball cricket.”
Hawke’s Bay have made a raft of changes to the team who clinched the Furlong Cup last weekend. Taylor Bettelheim, Will Clark, Sam Cassidy, Angus Schaw, Toby Findlay and Lennox return to the side, with Schaw to act as captain in the absence of the unavailable Dominic Thompson.
For Lennox, New Plymouth will be less of an assault on the senses than India was.
“It’s taken me a little while to just come down from the buzz of it all. It’s one of those places that’s quite overwhelming; there’s people everywhere, it’s loud and in your face,” he said.
“It was really, really special to be a part of New Zealand cricket history and to go over there and be part of a series win. It’s something I’ll hold very close to me forever.
“Being able to play against a full-strength Indian side in front of some packed crowds was very, very cool as well.
“I thought my nerves were going to be worse, to be fair. I just leant on the fact that I’ve done a lot of mental skills work and physical work and skill work in the last 10 years and especially the last six or seven years as a professional.
“I didn’t get overawed by the occasion and just enjoyed it and towards the back end of the first innings, I just sat back and thought, how good is this?
“I’ve genuinely just never had more fun on a cricket field and considering the opposition and the moments within the game, it was pretty special to just enjoy it rather than rush through my overs and try and get out the other side of it.
“That was the big thing, the fact that I really did enjoy it and had a lot of fun in that environment and in that pressure cooker, rather than just trying to get through it as quickly as I could.”
Time will tell how often the 31-year-old Lennox plays for New Zealand after his 1-42 at Rajkot and 2-42 in Indore.
Black Caps white-ball captain Mitchell Santner is among the best exponents of slow left-arm bowling in the world and it was his unavailability that gave Lennox the opportunity in the first place.
But it’s one thing to be picked and quite another to deliver. Especially against players Lennox had only ever seen on television.
“I actually think it was potentially a little bit easier because I have seen so much of these guys,” he said.
“Doing my scouting the day before the game and writing Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill and Virat Kohli and K.L. Rahul in my book, I was a little star-struck just writing those names down, considering how much cricket I’ve watched as a student of the game.
“It’s very easy to be watching on the sofa and say ‘why didn’t they do this?’. I just thought it was an exciting opportunity to be doing the study myself, writing the plans and then having to deliver.
“To then bowl nicely and be able to tie them down was certainly very rewarding.
“I’d be lying if I said it didn’t put a real fire in the belly. Just being in the environment and how welcoming everybody was meant it wasn’t scary at all.
“It’s a credit to that environment that there were a lot of us that came in and slotted in pretty seamlessly.
“Looking forward, obviously selection’s out of your control, but I’d definitely like to think I’d be in the picture for other subcontinent tours. But you never know and a career’s short.
“There’s not really a lot more you can do than going over there and playing some of the big fish. It’s a serious platform.”
Hawke Cup cricket at Pukekura Park might be a world away from the intensity of India, but Lennox will approach it in just the same way.
“I certainly won’t be looking to cruise and go through the motions. I’ll be going out there trying to win the Hawke Cup back, because it’s something that’s not very easy to do and to get a chance to do that with my mates will be really special.”
Hawke’s Bay team to meet Taranaki: Taylor Bettelheim, Thomas Zohrab, Brad Schmulian, Will Clark, Sam Cassidy, Bayley Wiggins, Angus Schaw (C), Todd Watson, Toby Findlay, Jayden Lennox, Liam McCarthy, Charlie Robson.