I strode on to the stage as Ross Taylor strode out to bat. He was about to face the crafty Bangladeshi attack with New Zealand 33 for 2 in the fifth over of their final Cricket World Cup match pool match, while I was partaking in a panel discussion for Rabobank's annual shindig at the Wanaka A&P Show.
That's where the similarities with Ross and I end, but stay with me. A high calibre agricultural panel was assembled to discuss the topic "getting young people into agriculture", featuring Neil Gardyne, Will and Kim Grayling, Hamish and Amy Bielski and Matt and Julie Ross. Speaking of Ross, he really hadn't been in the best of form heading into this match. A total of 29 runs from five matches at an average of nine. Still, early days ...
Meanwhile, the debate in Wanaka was lively as the panellists warmed to the task and the 200-plus audience joined in with a few probing questions of their own. All these farming couples had genuine skin in the game and had fashioned impressive careers and businesses up to this point.
I was intrigued by something Neil Gardyne told me beforehand that we revisited during the debate. We were discussing the progress of the Black Caps chasing down the 287 they had been set by Bangladesh earlier that afternoon. He casually remarked that the Rabobank event in Wanaka has had somewhat of a chequered history of coinciding with disasters; we both silently hoped it wasn't to be the national cricket team failing to reach their target on this occasion. Taylor was still there though with Martin Guptill who had seemed to have found some form.
Neil said the previous year the Rabobank attendees were all keeping up to date with the news that Malaysian Airlines Flight 370 had gone down in mysterious circumstances and, a couple of years before that, they were learning that Japan was in the midst of a devastating earthquake/tsunami/nuclear meltdown triple whammy. Bad omens indeed.