CRICKET: All-rounders' days gone

He took a hat-trick of wickets for the New Zealand under-23 side against Canterbury in 1965 but Blair Furlong believes he came up shy in cricket.
"I think my career in cricket is like a school report, 'Did okay but could have done better'," says the former All Black and Central Districts cricketer.
"I played cricket and rugby and I enjoyed playing them both. I was never that serious because they weren't lifestyle options in those days. They were things you did in your spare time and you still went to work," the former offspinner tells SportToday.
Just the other day he was reminiscing with some fellow retired elite rugby players and cricketers about how tricky it was in the halcyon days to work around overlapping seasons.
"I'd go play cricket and then head down to Nelson Park in Hastings to play rugby and then go back to Cornwall Park and finish the [cricket] game off," he says, adding his contemporaries didn't stand a chance.
"Jeff Wilson was probably the last player who could sneak in to do that at a higher level," says Furlong, who is thankful his experience laid the foundation for being able to comprehend what professional cricketers endured.
"That's held me in good stead, although some players might not necessarily think that.
"The team [CD] has punched above their weight with our limited resources and sometimes we haven't done what we'd like to do, but, all in all, the underlying thing is we have no regrets whatsoever."
The pressure-cooker Ranfurly Shield era spawned some unforgettable memories for the former Magpies skipper.
"They are now lifetime friendships those people," says the ex-utility back of ex-players such as Hilton Meech, Neil Thimbleby, Ian MacRae, Bill Davis and Doug Curtis.
In 1963, the Magpies were playing Auckland who were about to put an end to the Bay's 1920s record for the number of Ranfurly Shield defences. The score was 3-3 and Furlong found himself at the base of a scrum, to the right-hand side of the Eden Park posts.
"The ball came back to me from the halfback and I had a shot at goal and I missed - not by a little bit, but by a lot. In those days the flankers used to follow the ball through, so I had Waka Nathan on one side and Bob Graham on the other, so it was a bit scary."
Fours years later, he was up against Wellington and the clock was ticking down as the Magpies charged at the try line, but a dropped goal was fast becoming an option.
"Ian MacRae was the vice-captain so I said to Mac, 'I'll make out as if I'm going to drop a goal and you run in from the blind side and score a try and we'll save the game'," Furlong offered.
MacRae replied: "No you won't, you'll have a drop kick at goal."
Consequently halfback Aidan Thomas spiralled the ball to Furlong in front of the posts and the shield match was drawn.
"You know you could do that at practice a thousand times and you wouldn't miss, but under a bit of pressure ... ," he says, adding it's hard to capture that feeling of 26,000 delirious fans engulfing the field at the final whistle.