In the beginning
Dion Joseph Nash was born on 20 November 1971 to parents
Paul and Joan. He grew up in Dargaville, a regional service
centre north of Auckland which today calls itself "Gateway
to the Kauri Coast" but is better known for its kumara
production and, historically, the gum-digging industry that
once thrived in the tall Kauri forests of the surrounding
region. In defence of his home town, Nash once pointed out
that Dargaville also boasts some good surfing beaches, just
out of town on the wild West Coast. Indeed, growing up in
Dargaville seems to have instilled in Nash a lifelong love
of the outdoors, sea, and sport. Today, Nash has chosen to
live surrounded by ocean on Waiheke Island in the Hauraki
Gulf, and while his preferred leisure-time activities have
changed over the years — surfing, snowboarding, mountain
climbing — all share a common central element of challenge
and adventure in the great outdoors.
 Organised
sport, meanwhile, has been the formative force for much of
Nash’s life. He recalls his years in Dargaville largely
in terms of the sport he played. Not just cricket: Nash was
involved in other sports, including basketball and rugby,
and was a handy fullback. Looking back on his time at Dargaville
High School, Nash labelled himself as a "sport-head"
— which meant he was in for a surprise when Nash arrived
at the much more academically-demanding Auckland Grammar for
his final year of high school. He commenced his year at Auckland
Grammar without any prior notion of a two-hour study session,
yet he managed to cultivate study habits swiftly enough to
achieve a B-Bursary. John Graham, then headmaster at Auckland
Grammar and, later, manager of the New Zealand Cricket Team,
remarked that Dion was "immaculately behaved and above-average
academically". It seems, then, that "sports head"
was not a fair description of Dion Nash and he chose to further
his studies alongside his mates at Otago University.
Nash enjoyed many different sports, but it became clear during
his school years that cricket was his forté. His talent
was obvious. Nash bowled fast and was equally interested in
batting; he quipped once that his initial motivation to bowl
well was "to get the bat back". Nash also showed
natural leadership ability from a young age and captained
the Dargaville High School First XI. Meanwhile, Nash was increasingly
involved in representative age-group cricket, and here his
commitment to the game was evidenced as well, sometimes travelling
hours for training and matches. Nash’s competitive attitude
was apparent perhaps from an even earlier age; almost from
the day his brother gave him his first cricket set. Although
sometimes criticised, Nash’s attitude was later to be
much-vaunted as the ‘X-factor’ in his game. This
stemmed partly from "a competitive family", says
Nash, but admits that it sometimes made him a bad sport as
a child: there was more than one occasion, he says, when he
tucked his bat under his arm and walked sulkily home from
"backyard Tests".
Nash’s cricket earned him a sports scholarship to the
prestigious Auckland Grammar School, where he went as a boarder
for one year in 1989 and played cricket for the First XI.
His first national age-group selection came shortly afterwards,
aged 18. Nash’s cricketing career advanced at a moderate
pace in the years following his matriculation from High School.
He made his First-Class debut for Northern Districts against
Auckland at the tail-end of the 1990-91 season. Nash was selected
again the following summer when Northern Districts recalled
him for two Shell Trophy matches and one round of the Shell
Cup. Nash failed to impress, however, and his First Class
career suffered a further set-back when he suffered an intercostal
muscle tear which sidelined him for the rest of the season.
Once introduced into the New Zealand Cricket Academy / Development
Squad / Under-20’s environment, however, Nash began to
distinguish himself and, once his muscle tear healed, he was
an obvious selection for the New Zealand Youth tour of India
in February-March 1992. That tour proved to be a significant
launching-pad for Nash’s aspirations to the national
side, an opportunity Nash obviously recognised at the time
and exploited to the full, despite the hot, dry conditions
and sub-standard facilities on tour. Nash recalls the fierce
determination of the New Zealand squad members just to be
named for the major games, exhibited during the warm-up match
through feats of energetic fielding. Fortunately for Nash,
he earned his selection, and there was more to come. He scored
two laudable centuries in the following matches and bowled
impressively, taking two five-wicket bags. And — as was
to be the case so often during his international career —
Nash seemed to play best when the team was struggling.
Nash’s outstanding all-round form in India attracted
the attention of the national selectors and Nash was thereafter
‘fast-tracked’ into the international arena. In
September 1992, he represented New Zealand in a six-a-side
tournament in Hong Kong. He was a surprise selection for New
Zealand’s tour of Zimbabwe in late 1992 and his international
debut came on October 31, in the first one-day international
at Bulawayo. New Zealand won by 22 runs, but Nash’s role
in that game was severely limited: he scored three with the
bat and bowled just one over. His introduction to Test cricket
was not far off, however, and Nash debuted in the Second Test
of the same tour at Harare, just two weeks short of his twenty-first
birthday. Nash’s Test debut, too, was fairly quiet, but
he did pick up two wickets in the match which New Zealand
won by 177 runs. Nash had made his Test debut with only three
First Class matches and a successful Youth tour to his name,
just one First Class match more than Daniel Vettori, who became
New Zealand’s youngest-ever Test cricketer in 1997 aged
18 years and 10 days.
Nash played another three matches for New Zealand in November
and December of 1992 when the team toured Sri Lanka. Nash
scored 40 not out in the second ODI which stood as his highest
score in Limited Overs Internationals until 2001, but his
performances on tour were otherwise unremarkable. Nash did
gain experience of another kind during that tour, however,
when a bomb exploded near the team’s Colombo hotel and
the team was divided when some senior players went home early.
Nash was one of the players who stayed on, and the tour of
Sri Lanka seems to have been a team-building experience for
Nash and other young players, including a 21-year-old Adam
Parore. Parore’s tour diary fondly recalls tour events
such as the "beach Olympics" won by Dion "Dasher"
Nash and the birthday party where Nash delivered a well-received
initiation speech on "the migrationary habits of Mexican
walking fishes".
Next Page >>
[Retirement Feature]
|
