Parore says break has been long enough for Kiwis
New Zealand might have only a 33% success rate in tri-series One-Day International tournaments but CLEAR Black Caps wicket-keeper Adam Parore says last year's ICC KnockOut win in Nairobi had been an important step for the side towards improving that
Lynn McConnell
13-Jul-2001
New Zealand might have only a 33% success rate in tri-series One-Day International tournaments but CLEAR Black Caps wicket-keeper Adam Parore says last year's ICC KnockOut win in Nairobi had been an important step for the side towards improving that percentage.
Just before flying out from Christchurch today for Colombo with the side for the 23rd three or four-nation tournament New Zealand has played in, Parore said that for a couple of years this New Zealand team had known they were capable of doing something, without ever having achieved it.
Going to Sri Lanka was another seeming Mission Impossible. India has just completed a tour of Zimbabwe, while Sri Lanka were at home in their favourable conditions. The New Zealanders were coming out of the coldest winter in this country for nearly 30 years.
But adapting to foreign conditions is becoming second nature to Black Cap sides and Parore believes the lessons of Nairobi could be an influence in the Coca-Cola Cup.
"To know you can do it, and then to go out and finally do it, fills you with a lot of confidence," he said.
"Watching the professional golfers and tennis players on television in big tournaments they know that to win they have to go through unbeaten.
"There are two or three moments in matches when, if you want to win, you have to put up and do it.
"And there is no substitute for doing it.
"Until you do it and then realise what you have done, you don't appreciate how much it takes," he said.
That lesson was the most valuable thing to come out of the Nairobi success, Parore said.
"Thinking you can do something, and actually doing something, are two completely different things," he said.
Having been one of the heaviest worked players during the last season, Parore relished the chance for a break after the series equalling victory against Pakistan.
But it had been long enough and he pronounced himself impatient to get underway in Colombo.
"There is only so much running, batting and training you can do each day. I don't think I've ever been so keen to get back into action as I am now," he said.
Parore said that in hindsight the last season did not seem that tough and he felt the side came out of a difficult summer pretty well.
It had been disappointing to lose key players at vital times. But in spite of those worries, the side had achieved some good results.
Younger players had been brought in and had been exposed to top level cricket and were now more experienced as a result.
He said the inclusion of players who had been through the Academy process had made it a lot easier for those introduced to adapt to their situation.
There was a higher level of professionalism among the younger players but they still found the standard of cricket a bit of a shock.
But New Zealand had been lucky with the players who came in last summer as they had developed well.
As far as New Zealand's record in tournaments was concerned, he said that was probably due to the fact that they all required a degree of adaptation and that invariably as the side played more games, their record improved in tournaments.
"But because we are often coming out of our winter, we are having to start so far back on the grid and when you go to the sub continent you are going into the hardest conditions in which to have a cricket tour.
"Personally, I enjoy the sub continent. It is a good place to tour. You have grounds that are full of roaring spectators who know their cricket. They know who you are, what your average is and all about you," he said.
Parore recalled holidaying in Dubai after the summer and finding that drinks stewards around the hotel pool he was staying in were able to talk to him about quite technical matters of the game.
"They know what they are talking about and were able to give some quite technical analysis of Sachin Tendulkar's batting," he said.
Parore said he only needed a few weeks off before he was keen to get back into action. Three months had been two months too long and he said he couldn't wait to get on the plane and on the way.
He didn't see the tournament as the start of another tough new season. It was an interlude with a six-week break before the next tour to Pakistan when the Black Caps get down to the real business of the summer.
TRI NATIONS RECORDS
Played Won Lost Tied Abandoned 1980/81 Australia, India, New Zealand 14 7 6 1 1982/83 Australia, England, New Zealand 12 6 6 1985/86 Australia, India, New Zealand 10 3 6 1 Pakistan, Sri Lanka, New Zealand 2 1 1 India, Pakistan, New Zealand 2 0 2 1987/88 Australia, Sri Lanka, New Zealand 10 4 6 India, Sri Lanka, New Zealand 4 2 2 1989/90 Australia, India, New Zealand 5 1 4 Pakistan, Australia, Bangladesh, NZ 3 1 2 1990/91 Australia, England, New Zealand 10 3 7 1993/94 Australia, South Africa, New Zealand 8 3 4 1 Australia, Sri Lanka, India, UAE, Pakistan, New Zealand 3 1 2 1994/95 India, West Indies, New Zealand 4 0 3 1 South Africa, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, NZ 6 0 6 Australia, India, South Africa, NZ 4 2 2 1996/97 Pakistan, Sri Lanka, New Zealand 5 1 3 1 Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, New Zealand 3 1 2 1997/98 Australia, South Africa, New Zealand 8 2 6 India, Australia, New Zealand 4 1 3 Sri Lanka, Australia, New Zealand 6 0 2 4 2000/01 South Africa, Pakistan, New Zealand 2 0 2 Pakistan, Sri Lanka, New Zealand 3 1 2 Total 128 40 79 1 8