False Starts
During the off-season, Nash followed the prescribed program
of rest, followed by a gradually-increasing bowling workload
which would ease him back to match fitness. Meanwhile, he
kept in the public eye through a number of television guest
appearances – a measure, perhaps, of the stature he had
by now attained – and spoke optimistically about making
a comeback before too long. Nash’s target was New Zealand’s
winter tours to Zimbabwe and South Africa. Although not yet
fully fit, he was named in the touring squad, subject to a
fitness test. In early August, New Zealand Cricket received
optimistic medical reports on Nash’s condition. He was
to miss New Zealand’s warm-up matches in Brisbane and
the tri-series in Singapore, but was expected to return to
the Black Caps either for the Zimbabwe tour or the following
tour of South Africa.
A month later, Nash joined the New Zealand team in Zimbabwe,
but it was revealed that he was not yet fit enough to play
the opening tour match, and was immediately ruled out of the
First Test. Nash bowled in the nets each day, but only at
around 85% efficiency, and New Zealand Cricket attracted criticism
for selecting Nash when it now appeared that he might not
play any role in the First-Class section of the tour. Almost
immediately, however, Nash was selected and bowled for the
shadow Test side in the tour match against Zimbabwe A. "The
first test was always probably going to be out of reach but
I'm still hopeful of the next test if I can take my chances
here," Nash told the press when named in the side. "I’m
just happy to be on tour. It was always going to be difficult
coming over here, a bit of an unknown quantity."
 On
September 19, Nash made his international comeback in the
Second Test in Bulawayo. He had not yet fully recovered from
his back injury, however, and probably would not have played
were it not for the large number of other injuries affecting
the squad at the time: Nash essentially replaced fellow stress
fracture-victim Daniel Vettori, who suffered a recurrence
of his back injury during his comeback in the First Test.
Unfortunately, Nash’s ‘comeback’ was to prove
as short-lived as Vettori’s. Together with Chris Cairns,
Nash bettered the record eighth-wicket partnership he had
set with Daniel Vettori in 1998, scoring 62 in the first innings.
Nash also bowled 17 economical overs in each innings, but
was increasingly stiff and sore, and he was instructed not
to bowl on day five. When a stubborn Zimbabwean ninth-wicket
partnership seemed to be taking the Test out of New Zealand’s
reach, however, Nash put the good of the team before his own
and demanded that Stephen Fleming allow him to bowl. Fleming
acceded and, three balls later, Nash did succeed in breaking
the critical partnership. Although he did so by running out
Mbangwa, Nash had again demonstrated his match-winning ability
to ‘make something happen’. New Zealand won the
two-Test series 2-0.
Nash had suffered a flare-up of the two stress fractures
in his back, and was scarcely able to bowl in the nets following
the Second Test. By the end of September, it was apparent
that he would probably not remain on tour. Nash and Geoff
Allott, who was also recovering from stress fractures in his
lower back, missed the First ODI and "D-Day", said
coach David Trist, was a fitness test prior to the Second
ODI. "It's a bit like 12 noon, the gunfight at the OK
corral," Trist explained. "They’ve done everything
they can, we’ve done everything we can, and now it’s
time to play and if they’re not able to then we have
to review their status." Nash was struggling more than
Allott, and the decision was made to send him home. Nonetheless,
Nash did play the Second ODI: as a batsman only, to help out
a team hard-hit by injuries and illness.
Nash’s international ‘comeback’ lasted just
one Test and can only be termed a false start. Six months
later, he would admit that he had tried to come back too early.
The consequence was that Nash flew home early from yet another
New Zealand tour and, like four years earlier, it seemed that
his injury-plagued career might finally be over. He was written
off by many commentators, at least as a top-level pace bowler.
Martin Crowe predicted that Nash would never play for New
Zealand again. Gavin Larsen remarked that "any sane person"
might say that Dion Nash just wasn’t meant to bowl. Nash
himself must have been devastated and confused. His own schemes
in the closing months of the year 2000 ranged from reinventing
himself as a batsman or off-spinner to making a full return
to pace bowling at international level. He even briefly considered
an operation on his back, but dismissed the idea because of
the high risk and low expectation of success.
For a month or so, Dion Nash seemed to be forgotten altogether.
In late October, however, he attracted media interest again
by bowling a few overs of off-spin in a club cricket match,
but succeeded only in upsetting his troublesome back. Nonetheless,
he played Auckland’s next Max game as a specialist batsman
and tried to play with his usual vitality and freedom. It
seemed that Nash was in denial. He scored a rapid 38 for Auckland,
but further aggravated his back injury. "Dion felt a
twinge or two after bowling in the club game on Saturday,"
said Auckland captain Blair Pocock. "He threw himself
about when he was batting, and I think he felt the old back
injury." Nash was taught a lesson when back pain forced
him to sit out the next few games, and Plan A — offspin
— seems to have been abandoned soon after, or at least
relegated to ‘interim’ status, until his back recovered
sufficiently to bowl at pace again.
Plan B — forcing his way into the Black Caps as a specialist
batsman — seems to have been more seriously entertained,
both by Nash himself and by those in New Zealand Cricket circles
who were apparently as keen as he was to have the fiery all-rounder
back in the side, in one capacity or another. "The injury
is not too bad when I’m batting or fielding," Nash
explained in early November. "Of course I would like
to get back to the point where I could bowl but I am realistic
enough to know that it is not going to happen immediately."
Nash had particularly strong support from Tony Sail, then
Auckland coach. "He is good enough to play in any capacity.
At number four, five or six, I feel he is as good as any batsman
in the country," Sail told the New Zealand Herald.
"He certainly has the ability to change his mindset to
become a top middle-order batsman. It is a challenge, but
Dion has never turned his back on anything. He has scored
2,800 First Class runs, including three centuries and 13 half-centuries."
Nash was promptly promoted to number five in the Auckland
batting. "I might even use him at four," Sail commented.
Nash, too, sounded confident. "I think I’m good
enough to play as a batsman," he said in mid November,
but said he believed a middle-order batting spot in the one-day
team was a more realistic goal, for the time being, than the
New Zealand Test side. "I think Test matches are probably
two seasons away," he added. Nash indicated that he had
more widespread support for his campaign. "Crowey [Martin
Crowe] said some nice positive things about my technique.
I’ve received a lot of support and I’m looking forward
to the challenge," Nash said. Arguably, Nash’s batting
technique and international record suggested that he had the
makings of a competent top-level batsman. At times, his Test
batting average had been as high as 34, while Nash was averaging
29.25 over his last 17 Tests, which included three 50s. "Batsmen
have survived for long periods with a lesser average throughout
New Zealand’s cricket history," wrote Lynn McConnell
in his column for the official New Zealand Cricket website.
Whether or not Nash had the ability to claim a place in the
side as a specialist batsman was unclear, but it was very
clear that New Zealand Cricket placed a high value on what
he offered the Black Caps in terms of competitive spirit.
New Zealand Cricket’s chief executive officer, Chris
Doig, had identified Nash as a "special" member
of the CLEAR Black Caps. As Lynn McConnell put it, "Dion
Nash has become such a crucial element in New Zealand’s
cricket equation that he cannot afford to be lost as such
an early stage of his career." For that reason, New Zealand
Cricket was willing to entertain the possibility of Nash playing
as a specialist batsman if he was unable to bowl again. "Ideally,"
said McConnell, "everyone wants to see Nash competing
with both bat and ball. But, realistically, every time he
breaks down it must become harder to come back the way he
wants."
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