‘The comeback success story of New Zealand Cricket’

Northern Districts’ Alex Tait had a fair bit to say about Dion Nash following the Knights’ 1998 Shell Cup victory: "Mate, I tell ya, he’s an absolute inspiration to everyone in our dressing room," said Tait. "He's full of aggression and energy and he’s just so competitive. He desperately wants to win all the time. He talks us up. Having him back is just huge for us." Tait was by no means the first or the last to make that sort of comment about Nash, whose attitude has always been the signature feature of his game. Margot Butcher chose to open her New Zealand Sport Monthly story on Nash’s comeback with Tait’s words because they exemplify, in the minds of team mates and officials, the ‘something special’ which Dion Nash could contribute to a cricket team. The selectors hoped that Nash would contribute some of that spirit to the struggling New Zealand side when he was recalled for the tri-series in Australia. They were right.

If Nash’s recall in was the rebirth of his cricket career, his first game back in the New Zealand side was truly a baptism of fire. The scene was the ‘Gabba in Brisbane on January 9, 1998. Nash immediately attracted attention in the first innings with an ingenious piece of fielding which prevented a certain six runs, although he was forced to abandon the catch. That evening, chasing South Africa’s 300 runs, New Zealand’s cause looked all but lost at 6/124 before valiant partnerships from Chris Cairns and Adam Parore, then Parore and Nash. Following Parore’s dismissal, Nash became the senior partner with Daniel Vettori at the other end. With New Zealand needing six runs to tie the scores, Nash lapped the penultimate ball and suffered the outrageous fortune of landing it on the full on the back rope where there was an overlap in the boundary rope. He was awarded four runs, meaning three were needed to win the match. The field was in close, cutting off twos, and Nash had no choice but to go after the last ball. He hit it well, but not well enough for Lance Klusener, who sprinted around the boundary to secure a wonderful catch and South African victory.

Nash, so nearly a hero, was out for 38 and left the field to a standing ovation from the Brisbane crowd. Disappointment was written all over his face. "To come so far and get so close but lose on the last ball is just too painful to talk about," he told the Evening Post the next day. The last-ball loss seemed, for a while at least, to obscure the personal victory his international comeback had been. "I've still got a lot of work to do on my game," Nash said simply, adding that his primary goal was to earn the respect of his team-mates through his on-field performance. In fact, Nash confessed he was initially "really nervous" about rejoining a side with many new faces after his two-year absence. But he was pleasantly surprised by how easily he slotted back in, and spoke enthusiastically time and again of the "wicked team spirit" he discovered in the new-look, more confident Black Caps. Nash himself was to play a big role in the improving fortunes of the New Zealand Cricket Team over the next two years.

Nash kept his place in the side when the team returned to New Zealand after the unsuccessful tour of Australia. He performed consistently in the One-Day series against Zimbabwe and Australia, claiming a wicket in every match he bowled in. Nash’s reward was his Text comeback. He had played six one-day games in 11 days and that was considered an adequate test of his troublesome back. Nash was named in the XI to play the First Test against Zimbabwe at the Basin Reserve, 22 months after his injury in the West Indies. At last Nash felt his comeback was complete. "Test cricket is the big one and the one I've been holding out for," he said after his selection, and confirmed that he didn’t have any fitness concerns about bowling at Test level. Instead of worrying about his back giving up on him, Nash was at last able to concentrate on the details. While his batting and fielding had exceeded expectations, Nash was still not completely happy with his bowling. "I’m working on my outswinger," he said.

Nash claimed two wickets in the First Test and made a handy 41 with the bat. He took five wickets in the Second Test, including the economical figures of 2/13 off 10 overs. New Zealand won the series 2-0 and Nash’s bowling was continually on the improve. That trend continued into the second half of the One-Day series. He sat out the third one-dayer under New Zealand’s new policy of seam-bowler rotation, but returned to take three wickets in the fourth. In Auckland, however, Nash dislocated his shoulder while attempting a diving catch. Fortunately, the mishap occurred in the second innings of the last match of the home summer. Nash was fit in time for New Zealand’s next tour, the Coca Cola Cup in India in April 1998, where he captured six wickets in the three games he played, including his career-best Limited Overs bowling return of 4/38 off 10 overs.

Nash had not produced a repeat of Lords 1994, but clearly his comeback had been a success, and one well worth the wait for New Zealand Cricket. "He is the biggest rehabilitation success we have had," said Gilbert Enoka, the player liaison officer who had coordinated Nash’s comeback. After a two-year break, Nash had quickly re-established himself as a regular face in the Black Caps. His comeback was not entirely smooth sailing, however. Nash was not selected for any of the three Tests in Sri Lanka, apparently due to concerns about his fitness, and he played only three matches of the following Singer Akai Nidahas trophy after straining a stomach muscle while fielding. In July, he was reported to be in doubt for the 1998 Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur due to a flare-up of his back problem. Nash was picked in the Games squad nonetheless but only got as far as the Black Caps’ warm-ups in Queensland before he was flying home with a back injury. He also missed the Wills Mini World Cup held in Bangladesh in November of that year. By November, however, Nash was playing his second season as captain of the Northern conference team, at first as a specialist batsman, and by December he was bowling again. Confident that his injury niggles had cleared up, Nash was looking forward to establishing a regular place in the New Zealand Test team.

During the 1998-1999 summer, Nash made the shift from Northern Districts to Auckland. He had been in discussions with the association since July 1998 over a deal which may have included the captaincy as an inducement for Nash to switch allegiance. As Nash saw it, however, the change was perfectly logical. "It makes sense," Nash told the press, responding to the idea that he had unduly abandoned his old home team, "I live here. I support the Auckland Blues". Nash was drafted into the Auckland Aces in November 1998. As it happened, however, New Zealand’s home program did not allow Nash time to play for Auckland that summer, and New Zealand Cricket wisely granted Nash, amongst other top players, exemptions from those rounds of the domestic competition for which he would have been available. Ironically, in one of Nash’s first games involving his new domestic team, he was playing on the other side, when Auckland played the Black Caps in a friendly match as part of New Zealand’s World Cup preparations.

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