Thomson still a jack of all trades

Shane Thomson at work in Taupo with help from son Jack.

Where are they now?

Former all-rounder Shane Thomson was known for doing a bit of everything on the cricket field and in his post-playing days he has pitched his talents just as broadly.

Thomson played 19 tests and 56 one-day internationals for New Zealand in the 1990s, a career that saw him bat in the top, middle and lower orders, and bowl medium pace and off-spin.

It's no coincidence, then, that Thomson's latest business venture, Man Friday, promotes itself as a jack-of-all-trades. The business provides a full range of property-maintenance services for holiday homes in Taupo, where Thomson lives with his wife and children.

"We do trees, hedges and lawns, and small paving jobs," Thomson said. "We do the basic stuff ourselves, and the big jobs, we subcontract out and I project manage [them].

"When I bought the business, I was doing most of the manual stuff myself but now I do the administrative side of it," he said. "It's a good work-life balance. I work from home, which is handy."

Thomson enjoys business challenges, having also turned his hand to property investment and exporting showjumping horses.

As a cricketer, no challenge was greater than the one he faced in the summer of 1994 - the Pakistan pace duo of Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis. Akram and Younis were in their pomp when they arrived in New Zealand, and they quickly set about ripping through the Kiwi batsmen in the first two tests.

"I'd never faced anything like that," Thomson said. "I'd never been hit in the head before. We were all being hit. You were just faced with this totally new experience."

After the second test, Thomson sought counsel from former test captains Jeremy Coney and John Parker, who had both negotiated the great West Indian fast bowlers of the 1970s and 80s. The advice was simple. "You can't change your technique," they said. "You can't back away. You've just got to keep plugging away and hope you get a break."

Which he did. New Zealand were set 324 to win the third test in Christchurch and Thomson and Bryan Young set about compiling one of the country's great run chases.

"We were conscious they could come back, knock over five or six wickets for very little, so we were never completely going, 'right, we've only got 100 to get, we're fine'."

Along the way, Thomson made his first and only test century.

One of the curiosities of Thomson's career was that he stopped playing at just 28.

"I didn't really retire," he said. "I just left the country."

The fallout from the ill-fated South African tour of 1994, when some players were caught smoking marijuana, and the arrival of Glenn Turner as coach were the catalysts for his departure on an OE to Europe and the United States.

"We had a lot of fun but it definitely changed after that tour. Glenn ran a different ship to anything I'd been involved with before, and I just didn't enjoy it.

"It's got to be fun playing cricket, because you have very little success when you think about it. I think Don Bradman succeeded only 30 per cent of the time.

"Playing cricket for New Zealand is tough, so you've got to savour those times when you win."