Adam Parore on Dion Nash
From The Wicked Keeper by Angus Gillies, Penguin, 2002

This excerpt from Parore's biography (pages 77-79) offers some of his thoughts on his friend and long-time team-mate Dion Nash. Owing to the pair's friendship and common experiences, the book is well worth the investment for Nash fans as well as Parore fans. In fact, Dion wrote a number of sections for the book and some of his anecdotes are rather entertaining.

I scored lots of runs on that tour of England, but it was notable for the Lord's test, which was Dion Nash's coming of age if you like. It was the first time I'd toured with Dion and played cricket with him.

When we first met we clashed, it would be fair to say, because we're very similar. We're both very ambitious and very, very competitive. Dion's the most competitive person in the world, I think. I've heard stories about Zinzan Brooke being very competitive. Dion must be in the same mould. So we used to come to blows fairly regularly. There was a fair bit of jousting in the nets as each of us tried to earn the other's respect - and there was plenty of chat between us.

We weren't really very friendly at this stage although there was underlying and fairly healthy respect for each other's ability. That's always been the basis of what's become my greatest friendship in cricket. And that second test at Lord's was amazing for Dion. It was amazing to be part of it.

I'd played well leading up to that, but Dion really stole the show. He took 6 wickets for 76. They're still the best bowling figures by a New Zealander at Lord's, pipping Sir Richard Hadlee who in 1986 took 6 for 80. After a fighting 56 in the first innings, Dion also became the only player in the history of the game to score a half-century and tale 10 wickets in a test at Lord's.

Unfortunately, we drew the test and went on to lose the series 1-0. We had a chance of winning, but we couldn't quite pull it off. Nevertheless, we were all pretty pleased with ourselves, and we had a night out. We went to this place called Café Suzie and as was our wont in those days we got absolutely hammered and carried on like right pork chops.

Dion Nash: After I got my 10-for at Lord's we went back to this New Zealand owned café. We had the Steinlager flowing and all these New Zealand sauvignon blancs. There were all these New Zealanders there. And we had this massive blinding session. As the night peaked Adam gets up on the bar, rips his shirt off and does the haka. And as he's up on the bar he's kicking glasses over and stuff and just falling about over the whole time and gets his haka out and concludes it by falling off the bar, wiping out a whole lot of people. And then five minutes later he comatoses in the corner. That was Adam's night. That was his crack at being Maori. It was hilarious, actually. I haven't really done it justice. But if you can imagine it...

That was my introduction to Dion Nash. He went on to become one of my great friends and one of New Zealand's great players. It's disappointing that he's been marred by injury as much as he has. We've spent so much time over the years talking about the game and our futures and just hanging out and chewing the fat. But he's never had a decent run at it. He's always been plagued by injuries.

He's one of the guys I admire and respect most, not only in terms of his ability as a cricketer, but also as a person. I look up to him a lot. He's a genuine leader, a real natural leader. He has that x-factor that you can't really explain, but you feel compelled to follow him. For me that's the difference between a guy who's a real leader of men and someone who isn't. Dion definitely is.

I've spent a long time with him over the years and he was at his peak in that game. I remember sitting in the Lord's dressing room the last time we played there, and I felt so proud that my mate's name was on the honours board with all the legends. The visitor's dressing room there has an honours board of every person who has taken five wickets or scored a century at Lord's. Dion's name's up there. And so it should be. It was a performance that deserves to be remembered.

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