Cricket: Black Caps need domestic intervention

Domestic Cricket is in better shape than it's ever been, even taking into account a dearth of spectators, according to those involved in the game.

Yet when the Black Caps struggle, as they have been in one form of the game or another, there is a marked reluctance to dip into the first-class scene for replacements.

In the past two years, Ross Dykes has shifted sides of the fence. A long-term New Zealand selector, Dykes resigned from the panel at the end of last summer and shifted focus. He is now chief executive of Otago Cricket.

He agrees that the first-class scene is as strong, if not stronger, than it's ever been during his long association with the game - an association that included a stint as Auckland's wicketkeeper.

"I think now you can genuinely look at the State Championship and say we've got 66 first-class standard cricketers. In fact, we've probably got 72," he said.

"I don't think you could have said that five or six years ago. Without being unkind to anybody, there were some players in there that you could say were making up the numbers. Now we're close to getting the full complement to first-class standard."

As a selector, Dykes was part of a panel that often seemed reluctant to use the products of the apparently burgeoning first-class scene. The new panel - John Bracewell, Dion Nash, Sir Richard Hadlee and Glenn Turner - seem similarly inclined, though it's early yet, with Black Caps coach Bracewell regularly quoted as saying there was a quantum leap, or words to that effect, from first-class to international cricket.

"There's no one with the proven experience, is what I guess he's saying," said Dykes, "but it would be the wrong assumption to say we don't take notice of domestic cricket. We still have to acknowledge it's a pretty big jump from domestic cricket to international cricket - not just in technique but the mental aspects as well."

That reluctance was exemplified in the team for yesterday's third Chappell-Hadlee Trophy containing three hopelessly out-of-form batsmen, despite a number of good batting performances from national prospects in the State Championship's first round.

Dykes argued, with merit, that selectors do take first-class form seriously, but have a reluctance to throw players in at the deep end without necessary experience.

"If there is a reluctance, it's a reluctance to push people too quickly; make them take too big a jump without going through those intermediate steps of playing for New Zealand A or against touring sides.

"When I was [on the panel], there was a caution that we should let players develop at their own pace through the progressive system.

"But I would never have discounted domestic form because, at the end of the day, if we don't acknowledge that, then why have you got first-class cricket?"

Players who've straddled the amateur to semi-pro eras, like the recently retired Matthew Hart, will tell you that first-class cricket has never been stronger in quality.

Dykes points to three major factors behind this: "The formation of the Players' Association in conjunction with the game becoming semi-professional at domestic level has contributed - players can see a career path now and take the game a little more seriously.

"You've also got to give an awful lot of credit to the academy in Christchurch. We're now beginning to see players coming through there in their mid-20s who are maturing well. The system is proving it can keep churning out good players.

"The facilities have improved and there's a constant effort to get the pitches and grounds up to the highest standard possible."

If any evidence was needed that the State Championship can provide entertaining, skilful cricket, then you need look no further than the first round of the 2005-06 season that finished on Thursday.

All three matches continued late into the fourth day before two ended in outright victories (to Otago and Wellington) and the third match between Central Districts and Auckland carried the possibility of four different results into the last over.

Five centuries were scored and only one - to Auckland's Richard Jones - by someone who has played at the highest level. Players' Association manager Heath Mills said the feedback from senior players, including Black Caps, is overwhelmingly positive about the domestic scene.

"I get told by senior players that never has there been such depth in domestic cricket. The average age of players is increasing and the pitch and ground conditions are better."

He said evidence of an improving environment was the outcry of the non-awarding of New Zealand Cricket contracts to the likes of Mathew Sinclair and Ian Butler.

"We could easily have awarded 25 contracts this year. Three or four years ago, we would have got to 16 or 17 and wondered where the other three players were coming from."

He has a simple message for the national selectors, too, should they be unconvinced by impressive numbers posted in domestic cricket: "It's never going to be a breeding ground for international cricket until they show some faith in it."

- HERALD ON SUNDAY