“Well, what can I say about my time in New Zealand so far? Rain, rain, rain and more rain.
“It’s a lot easier returning to the side than it was starting out here last season. You already know people and they know you and your ability. I’ve had a good two and a half month break, where I’ve just been training, and getting myself back to normal so there’s no niggles. I’m really excited to be back – we made it to the one day final last year and that has to be the aim again. We’ve got a strong side and I think we have all bases covered so we want to be contending for both the one day and the t20 titles.
“We managed to get one innings of the first one day game complete where we posted a pretty competitive 260 off 50 overs but just as we were warming up to go out and field the rain just started again and there was no chance of us getting back out there.
“We normally have four days between games so the day after is usually travelling back to Christchurch or a rest day, then we’ll have a day of fitness followed by cricket skills on the third day. The fourth day is normally a rest day. The schedule of games allows us to be quite structured between games because the breaks between the matches are pretty much always the same.
“This year I’m living with our second overseas player Yasir Arafat, who played for Surrey this summer and former New Zealand international, Brendan Diamanti so we’ve managed to keep ourselves entertained when it’s been raining and between games.
“The rain has been so bad that for one of the games we were actually called early in the morning by the coach to hang fire and wait for further news because they didn’t know if the game was going to go ahead. The rain did eventually stop and we thought we were going to get started but as the covers were removed, just as we came on to play, we saw that it was completely waterlogged underneath.
“By the time we were travelling to Timaru to play Wellington we were ready to play some actual cricket – we were raring to go! The game itself was good, they scored 55 runs from my ten overs but unfortunately we were bowled out just short of the 307 run target they had set.
“We had a rest day the following day which gave us time to organise ourselves for travelling to Auckland the day after. Typically it was raining in Auckland when we arrived so we had to have an indoor training session, which isn’t ideal before a game. I did get a chance to look around Eden Park, which hosted the Rugby World Cup earlier in the year, and that was a great experience. The stadium is fantastic.
“The game against Auckland was played in very similar conditions to a windy and cold April in Durham – not nice at all! Rain was threatening all day but thanks to a century from my housemate Brendan we posted a good total that definitely gave us the chance to try and get our first win. As the weather worsened they were ahead on Duckworth/Lewis but they lost a wicket in the over before play was finally brought to a stop, due to what I can only describe as monsoon conditions, so we claimed the win by 7 runs.
“We returned to Christchurch and our general routine of rest day, fitness day, cricket day and match day before a scheduled t20 warm up game against Central Districts later in the week. The weather hampered our plans again though with that game being called off because the visitors were trapped in Nelson because of flooding and they couldn’t get a flight.
“The unexpected day off gave me a chance to have more of a look around Christchurch, I left before last year’s earthquake and although I knew it had done a lot of damage it really brings it home when you see the effects yourself. Where I lived last year, and a lot of the places we chilled out at between games and when we were off, are no longer there. On a happier note, I did visit former Durham player Paul Wiseman, his wife Amy and their new baby girl – it was lovely to see them so happy.
“We had our first HRV Cup (t20) game this weekend and although the rain hasn’t allowed us the best preparation I was really excited. All the New Zealand international players have been made available to play so the crowds should be good and the standard even higher than last year.
“It was a close game, we lost by just 5 runs which was disappointing but I’m sure we’ll bounce back! It was good to get out there and take a couple of wickets but obviously we’re aiming for a place in the final so we need be notching up the wins to give us the best chance.
“I’m back in Sydney now about to enjoy Christmas with my family, which will be great, I’ve really been looking forward to it. Our next game in the HRV Cup is on 27 December against Central Districts so I’ll be flying back out to New Zealand on Boxing Day ready to claim our first win in the competition!
“I hope you all have a great Christmas – enjoy!”