KEY POINTS:
How time flies. It was 35 years ago this weekend that one of New Zealand's most memorable cricket events occurred.
It wasn't a test victory, more an individual triumph.
And what keeps Rodney Redmond's test vivid in the mind is not so much that it was his only
one, but what he did over those few days at Eden Park. The Auckland opener hit 107 and 56 against Pakistan. He played a couple of one-day internationals on the subsequent tour of England and then he was gone.
When New Zealand arrived in England, Redmond had some eye trouble, John Parker overtook him as Glenn Turner's partner and even though Parker's form was poor, that was that. Redmond played another couple of seasons for Auckland but there was no second chance.
The Redmond name lives on. His son, Aaron, is banging away at the top of Otago's order this season. But the mind still pictures a sunny day at Eden Park, the blond locks, the shirt hanging out the back of the pants as he took Pakistan's attack apart.
He even did a David Hookes before the Australian did his five-fours-in-one-over trick to Tony Greig during the 1977 Centenary test in Melbourne.
Redmond climbed into the gentle off-spin of Majid Khan, taking five boundaries in one over as he sailed towards his hundred. That over produced one of those radio phrases which linger in the memory.
New Zealand's senior commentator Alan Richards got it just right: "Redmond's working him round the clock," as the ball disappeared to all points of the compass. The crowd poured on when he reached his century. Just imagine a world with no crash-tackling security guards.
The numbers from that innings bear noting. Redmond's 107 included 20 fours. It lasted 144 minutes. In his second innings he hit nine fours. So 165 runs, 116 in fours.
It was also the test when Brian Hastings and Richard Collinge - the bat looking a cut-down job to his giant frame - put on a world record 151 at not far off run-a-minute rate for the 10th wicket. Some test.
Time also seems to have taken wings when one thinks back to Stephen Fleming's debut, 14 years ago in Hamilton.
Fleming was 20 when he began test cricket with 16 and 92 against India in March, 1994. It was a fair attack too, with Javagal Srinath, Kapil Dev and Anil Kumble the key elements.
There have been days to savour the ease of Fleming's strokeplay, the touches of class, allied to his gifts of leadership. His ability at first slip completed the picture. He has snared 166 catches in tests, second only to Mark Waugh. He'll be closer by the time he finishes next month.
His catches per test rate is superior - Waugh's 181 came in 128 tests, Fleming has his in 108 - but he has done it with simplicity and style. No fancy tumbling or hurling the ball skyward, just pouching it securely and moving on seemed his modus operandi.
And to complete this short trip in the time capsule, 30 years ago yesterday New Zealand beat England for the first time in a test, at the Basin Reserve. Fancy an indelible image from that? Try Geoff Boycott being yorked by Collinge for two. The skipper had set himself to see the job through.
England only needed 137. They were rolled for 64. That New Zealand team will have a reunion next month during the second test at the Basin. Memory Lane will get a decent tread that weekend.
