Batting on international debut with former New Zealand skipper Stephen Fleming is one of several things Mathew Sinclair will always cherish.
"It's great to know you're out there with the New Zealand captain when you're going on to make a personal milestone," Sinclair says, after he carved up 214 on debut as the Black Caps No3 batsman in the Boxing Day test match against the West Indies in 1999 with Fleming adding 67 at No4.
The 37-year-old from Napier remains the only New Zealander to have achieved that feat.
While numerous partnerships stand out for him on the domestic front, Sinclair singles out the record first-wicket knock between openers Peter Ingram and Jamie How of 428 in 2009-10 against Wellington Firebirds at the Basin Reserve in the four-day Plunket Shield match as his most memorable.
"I was up there all padded up, sitting in the hut all that time watching them and really nervous about going out there."
How's quickest ton from 48 balls in the HRV Cup Twenty20 match against the Firebirds at New Plymouth in the battle of the bottom dwellers in January last year has also left an impression.
"That's going to be with me as a special moment."
A savvy slip merchant who snaffled close to 300 catches in international and domestic matches, Sinclair reckons the position often came naturally to top-order batsmen adept at watching the ball coming from a bowler's finger to a bat.
"If you look at my domestic stats it's a world-class one because I have not played County cricket. What makes it more outstanding is that New Zealand wickets are the toughest to bat on so that's a plus."
While the right-arm medium part-time bowler didn't claim any international scalps, he enjoyed taking 3-29 wickets against Canterbury - that of now CD and ex-Black Cap wicketkeeper Kruger van Wyk, Michael Papps and Shannon Stewart.
"Krugs said at the time I was bowling like Glenn McGrath with a ball on a string. He said the ball was talking so I'll take that," he says with a laugh.
He enjoyed working with every coach but internationally David Trist and Denis Aberhart struck a chord. At first-class level he found traction with the philosophies of Scott Briasco, Deepak Patel, Mark Greatbatch, Graham Barlow, Dermot Reeve and Alan Hunt.
"I was a big believer in how Dermot went about it on the mental side of things," he says, mindful some players had their reservations but he feels that's what's required to prosper at the elite level.
"Players who lack the technical aspect often get the job done on the mental side."