Co-captains of the NZ Parliamentary cricket team Chris Bishop (left) and Kieran McAnulty will head to the UK next week for the Inter-Parliamentary Cricket World Cup. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Co-captains of the NZ Parliamentary cricket team Chris Bishop (left) and Kieran McAnulty will head to the UK next week for the Inter-Parliamentary Cricket World Cup. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Labour MP Kieran McAnulty reckons getting injured from a thunderous delivery from Pakistan cricket legend Imran Khan could boost his social media appeal.
"Even if I get hit and hurt, I'll get hit and hurt by Imran Khan," he says, imagining the Facebook post.
"That'll exceed my usual 10 likeson Facebook, for sure."
Khan is the Prime Minister of Pakistan, and McAnulty could face him at the Inter-Parliamentary Cricket World Cup in the UK, which starts next week. The tournament coincides with the business end of the ICC Cricket World Cup.
It is the first cricket world cup of its kind and is being organised by a British MP and cricket-lover. It features eight parliamentary teams in a 20-over competition.
McAnulty co-captains the New Zealand team - first formed in 1975 - with National MP Chris Bishop.
Their excitement levels are peaking with the prospect of brushing shoulders with legends of the game, said to include Indian batting legends Sachin Tendulkar (a former MP) and Mohammad Azharuddin (a current MP), and Bangladesh politician and captain of the national team Mashrafe Mortaza, who would only play if his team is knocked out of the ICC World Cup.
UK Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn is playing for the UK side.
Asked what befuddling delivery he has to test Tendulkar, Bishop said: "It's the old inswing. Big inducker. Lance Cairns-esque ... it's all I can bowl."
McAnulty reckons the batsmen will have their work cut out for them.
"I guarantee you they've seen nothing like it."
Indian batsman and former MP Sachin Tendulkar is rumoured to play at the Inter-Parliamentary Cricket World Cup in the UK, which will include a New Zealand team with seven MPs. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Other MPs in the New Zealand team include New Zealand First's Mark Patterson, National's Ian McKelvie, and Labour's Greg O'Connor, Jamie Strange and Kiri Allan, the only woman playing in the tournament.
Parliamentary staffers make up the rest of the numbers - and carry the bulk of the talent, according to the co-captains.
They are at pains to stress that not a cent of taxpayers' money is being spent on the trip. Players are paying their own airfares, Air BnB is helping with accommodation, and ANZ is providing replica Black Caps uniforms.
They note that Strange "talks a big game", others talk a big game about Patterson, and Allan has been training with the Wellington Blaze, the national T20 women's champions.
Strange has previously suggested that his cricket skills are top-notch; his Christmas card last year had his picture on the front in a pose reminiscent of Australian cricketing legend Don Bradman.
But he has never actually attended a game or any training sessions, a stark contrast to the strict selection process of other teams.
"The Pakistanis, I'm told, have had a training camp with 43 MPs to select the team," Bishop says.
McAnulty's concerns are elsewhere. His mouth has previously landed him in trouble during the team's annual match against a team of diplomats.
"I'm prone to get a bit lippy on the field and I was sledging this bloke who wasn't any good, and Bishop came up to me and said, 'Just so you know, that's the Indian Ambassador.'"
Their cricket skills don't exactly sound top-notch, either. McAnulty has little in his batting repertoire other than the square-leg slog, whereas Bishop tries to cut every ball through point.
New Zealand MPs may face Pakistan's Prime Minister and former cricketing great Imran Khan at the Inter-Parliamentary Cricket World Cup in the UK next week. Photo / AP
They will play at grounds around London and - unless the Black Caps reach the ICC World Cup final and NZ Cricket is kind enough to gift them tickets - will watch the final at No 10 Downing Street.
Outgoing British Prime Minister Theresa May, who will be stepping down after failing to achieve Brexit, will host.
"We were a bit worried she wouldn't have time but she's got a bit of time now, so ... should be sweet," jokes McAnulty.
Bishop adds: "She's a massive cricket fan, apparently, and these are her last days, so what a way to go out, hanging out with Kieran McAnulty and Chris Bishop in the Rose Garden ... that's how I'd choose to go."
