Nash back to square one
From The Cricketer International, December 2000

While his New Zealand team mates were in Nairobi celebrating the biggest one-day win in their history and about to embark on an eight-week tour of South Africa, a disconsolate Dion Nash returned to his home in Auckland to an uncertain cricket future.

It is not the first time that Nash has had to curtail his cricketing activity with aserious stress fracture in his lower back. The injury first emerged while he was in the first year of a contract with Middlesex in 1995 and has plagued him at various times since. The aggressive all-rounder had only just returned to the New Zealand team after a break of 10 months following his early departure from last year’s tour of India.

His selection in the New Zealand team for their African tour was something of a gamble,with the selectors prepared for a cautious reintroduction of a player they regarded as vital to the team’s success. Injuries to other key pace bowlers, Chris Cairns, Simon Doull and Geoff Allott, meant a skilful balancing act was required to have the most experienced combination available for an arduous tour, which included five tests and 12 one-day internationals.

Nash could only manage the second of two tests against Zimbabwe and, sad as it is to contemplate, his last act in that match could well be his last in test cricket. On the final day, New Zealand were struggling to dismiss Zimbabwe after enforcing the follow-on, and by tea the home side appeared to have staved off defeat against a struggling, injury-ridden attack. Nash had not bowled in the first two sessions, the third day in the field for the Black Caps, and the attack was decidedly toothless.

Nash told captain Stephen Fleming he was prepared to bowl despite his injury and it was an inspired move. In his first over after tea, the combative seamer orchestrated the final dismissal. He somehow disentangled himself from the batsman, Guy Whittall, who was turning for a second run to retain the strike. Nash seized the ball and threw down the stumps of number 11 Pommie Mbangwa to end the innings.

But this injury is not only likely to be career-threatening for Nash, it has also sparked a major crisis in New Zealand cricket regarding the number of serious injuries to their frontline bowlers. Cairns has played on, despite a serious patella tendon injury in his right knee. Allott, the leading wicket-taker in the 1999 World Cup, plays on an irregular basis hampered by a severe lower back injury, and Simon Doull is not expected to return until Christmas. If that was not enough, Daniel Vettori left the tour after the first test in Zimbabwe, also with a lower-back stress fracture, and will not be fit until the New Year.

The injury crisis and some reported communication difficulties within the new selection panel has not given the new convenor of selectors, Sir Richard Hadlee, an armchair rideinto his role. Hadlee has freely expressed some frustration with the job. No sooner had he announced the squad to play the three-test series in South Africa, when he learned that another pace bowler, Andrew Penn, had to withdraw after straining his side playing clubcricket.

His lack of input in the composition of teams chosen on tour led to a public outburst in two leading daily newspapers. Hadlee bemoaned the difficulty of having to watch what is going on from thousands of miles away. ‘At the end of the day I have to carry the can,’ he said. ‘I accept that, but it can be tough when you’re not directly responsible.’

It was a curious comment as one of Hadlee’s fellow selectors, David Trist, is also the coach of the side. This highlighted some teething problems in the new selection regime, problems that do not appear to have an easy remedy.

[Articles]