Refreshed Neesham is smiling again
It’s taken a new team and a return to the scene of his proudest cricketing moment for Jimmy Neesham to realise it can be fun again.
Not since Neesham stormed into international cricket in February 2014 with a century on test debut, and support role in Brendon McCullum’s triplecentury against India at the Basin Reserve, has he truly enjoyed the game.
That snowballed to a point this time last year where Neesham, tasked with dominating domestic cricket for Otago to regain the Black Caps’ selectors’ faith, found an increasingly dark place and needed a recharge. He was dropped from the Volts’ Twenty20 team, took a month off, made a solid finish to the season but was heading towards the Dunedin exit door.
After off-season overtures from Wellington coach Bruce Edgar, and encouragement from former Otago team-mate and now Firebirds skipper Michael Bracewell, the capital move was confirmed.
Just turned 28, Neesham hopes it’s the springboard back into Black Caps allrounder calculations for next year’s World Cup in the UK. The last of his 41 ODIs was in June 2017.
‘‘It’s certainly my focus, but at a more basic level than that it’s about enjoying the game again, going out and having fun which I probably haven’t done since about 2014. That was the main goal of my off-season, to get away from the game and enjoy it again at its most basic level,’’ he said.
On early evidence – not just Neesham’s relaxed, friendly demeanour – it’s been a success.
In his first red ball innings on the Basin last Friday he hit 118 in the Firebirds’ first intersquad game. On Wednesday he blasted 107 off 37 balls in a Twenty20 match including 11 sixes.
Neesham’s ability with the bat was rarely questioned but it’s with the ball where he’ll really need to catch the eye of new coach Gary Stead.
As a teenager Neesham beat the country’s now-quickest, Lockie Ferguson, in a national secondary schools fast bowling competition in 2008. He’s always been sharp with the ball but consistency and confidence were work-ons.
‘‘It’s about enjoying the game again, going out and having fun which I probably haven’t done since about 2014.’’ Jimmy Neesham
‘‘Looking at the fitness and strength results, I’m in one of the best spaces I’ve been in. That’s allowed me to bowl more in the nets and hopefully get me to a space where my bowling is a point of difference over those other guys.’’
Colin de Grandhomme heads the allrounder queue but his gentle medium-pacers can prove expensive on flat pitches. Corey Anderson, a long-time rival of Neesham’s, has barely bowled in a match since his spinal fusion surgery last year.
Even the best allrounders find it difficult to stay on top of both aspects of their game. For Neesham a carefree attitude is the key.
‘‘I got a bit too caught up in trying to be perfect and trying to contribute every game and that was probably detrimental.
‘‘What the New Zealand team is crying out for is an allrounder they can rely on day in, day out, and not someone who’s just going to turn up now and then. That’s where I want to put my stake in the ground and say through domestic performances, ‘here I am, I’m ready to go’.
‘‘I had a moment last season with 2-3 contracts in front of me that would have required me to cut down what I was willing to play for New Zealand. I looked at the options and decided I wasn’t going to be able to look back on my career at 50 if I’d taken the easy option that early.
‘‘I want to play all three forms for New Zealand, not for the next 12 months, but for the next 4-5 years.’’
Neesham’s in the right frame of mind and physical shape, in a supportive environment. The proof will be in the scorebook.