Nash-ville - quiet achiever Nash prefers his cricket to do the talking
From the Sunday News, January 10, 1999

Dion Nash has returned to the Black Caps and it's good to have him back. James McOnie reports

The last player to leave the test cricket oval at Hamilton is Dion Nash.

It's the end of day five, the presentations have been made, most of the crowd has left but Nash stays behind to sign autographs.

While some sportspeople regard this task as detention, others like Nash are happy to oblige though he prefers people to say please.

Say the magic word and you'll get a smile and a bit of banter. Say "Oi Nash, sign this" and you'll probably just get the autograph.

Nash's deeds against India since Boxing Day have put him in the good books with cricket fans and commentators. He's flavour of the holiday season.

At 27, he has experience and is the team's unofficial vice-captain but he still plays test cricket with the same enthusiasm he had when he made his New Zealand debut in 1992 as an Otago player.

It has been an intermittent career. The Hamilton test was just his 18th.

"I love playing for my country. I missed that a lot when I was injured," said Nash.

"My memories of international cricket were enough motivation to work hard to be re-selected."

Few would dispute Nash belongs in the test arena. He brings with him a competitive edge, tenacity and all-round ability.

Said New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming: "We're still developing as a team but the fighting quality is the most satisfying aspect to emerge from the series win (against India). Dion has excelled in this area he has turned the game around a number of times."

In particular, Nash has excelled with the bat, coming in at number eight to play like a number four.

In four innings this season he was out only once. Even then it was a run out for which his batting partner Chris Cairns accepted the blame.

In two matches, Nash's batting average has jumped from 16 to 25. Combined with his bowling average of 26, it places him firmly as a quality all-rounder.

New Zealand cricket great Martin Crowe has helped Nash with his batting.

"I suppose I'm more watchful now," Nash said. "You have to learn to be patient and maintain your concentration."

Nash grew up in Dargaville but spent his last year at Auckland Grammar. By then he was making New Zealand age-group teams.

The early version of Dion Nash batted with the fervour of Ian Botham and bowled as quick as he possibly could.

A Botham-like performance thrust him into the spotlight in 1994 when he become [sic] the first cricketer to take 10 wickets and score a half-century in a test match at Lord's.

Middlesex pounced and a year later Lord's was Nash's home ground.

It was then that his back took a hammering from bowling over after over in English county cricket which is played six days a week.

"There's a real culture surrounding the game in England and you can learn from people with impressive cricketing knowledge," he said. "I learnt a lot but I probably went at the wrong time."

There are technical ways of describing what's wrong with the Nash back. Basically the spongy bit between two lower vertebrae has been worn away and the result is stress fractures.

The injury kept him out of international cricket for nearly two years before his recall for last year's one-day tournament in Australia. He made an immediate impact.

His back still haunts him and on Wednesday it was sore, so he didn't bowl.

Even though Nash has returned this season with a shorter run-up and a modified action to bowl a little slower, he can still lift the pace when required.

Master batsman Sachin Tendulkar found that out on day two in Hamilton.

Tendulkar had hit Nash for three consecutive boundaries so the next ball Nash put in the extra effort and hit Tendulkar on the pad.

The appeal was turned down but a fired-up Nash charged in and delivered another just as quick. Again Tendulkar beaten by pace was hit on the pad. Though television replays suggest otherwise, he's out lbw.

It's the second time Nash has dismissed Tendulkar in the series. So is slashin' Sachin Nash's bunny?

"I don't think so," says Nash. "It's always good to take up the challenge against a great player. His wicket is valuable but depending on the context of the match, dismissing a tailender can be just as satisfying."

Nash says morale is high in the Black Caps.

"What we've got is a whole lot of guys who've grown up playing their cricket together. We've all gone through the age groups and so we all know each other well."

He's shared the god times and bad. One thing he wishes he hadn't shared was a marijuana joint handed round New Zealand players at a party in South Africa in 1994.

Nash, Fleming and Matthew Hart were punished. Others were implicated. But that was then.

These days he's the unofficial vice-captain, a role he downplays. "I'm just one of the senior members of the team."

He would prefer to talk about the team or anyone else except him- he mentions it's good to see his old Middlesex teammate Mark Ramprakash in the England test team.

Nash is a private person. He doesn't have a television at home. He likes to surf, play the guitar, kick a rugby ball (he was a handy fullback in his day) and enjoys the odd game of touch.

A cricketing purist, Nash would prefer more test cricket and fewer one-dayers. As it is, his schedule is packed, and that's fine by him.

The kids in his Auckland neighbourhood won't be so pleased.

When they found out he lived beside the park they played cricket outside his house. Nash went out, gave them some cricket gear and bowled a few balls. They come back often. But Dion can't come out to play.

He's with the Black Caps now and should be there for some time.

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