Richard Sherlock is a selected member of the WAT New Zealand A Team 2005/6. Thanks to his New Zealand state team, Canterbury we were able to get in contact with Richie and pose him a few questions in order for us to find out a little bit about him and his background. To give you some details of his career so far, Richie is recognised in New Zealand as a raw fast bowling talent - perhaps the next Shane Bond. Richie started off at Central Districts, who represent the area of the Central and Southern areas of the North Island and the North of the South Island of New Zealand (excluding the Wellington region). He moved to Canterbury, based in Christchurch in the centre of the South Island at the beginning of the 2005/6 season. Although he's only 22 years old, and has only played a handful of first-class matches, he has already represented New Zealand at under 19 level and A team level, on a recent tour of South Africa. As a result of this experience, he does not look out of place in our New Zealand A team selection.

Q1. How were you first introduced to cricket, and what about the game got you hooked?

Richard Sherlock: Well, my Dad played a fair bit of cricket in his time. He had played a few games for Canterbury B as it was called back then. So I guess he initiated the games of backyard cricket when I was young. Having an older brother always helps with competition when Dads aren’t home as well!

And as for what kept me interested in cricket, probably a few things. All of my mates played at primary school. We would play before school, during school and after school, so it seemed logical to play on the weekend too. It was the sport that I found most satisfying to succeed in, so that was a large factor.

Q2. What hobbies/sports do you get up to when not playing or training for cricket?

Richie: Presently I am living with Andrew Ellis, the halfback for Canterbury [Crusaders - the current leading domestic Rugby Union side in the Southern Hemisphere's Super 14 tournament] . Whenever we get a chance we will have a game of tennis or go fishing, anything really where we can get into some sort of argument. I play a lot of music. I love my guitar and drums and have recently found a couple of other guys who are serious about practicing and learning songs, so that has been a very good time out from cricket.

Q3. Who are your favourite cricketers of all time, and which cricketer do you think influenced your own style the most?

Richie: That's a tough one. I used to wish I had qualities from different players. In backyard cricket, Allan Donald was who I first tried to model my bowling action on and Martin Crowe was who I tried to bat like.

When I was young and playing, I bowled, but didn’t consider myself a bowler. Batting was my number one, and I made underage sides as an opener. Then when I started to see that it was my bowling that was getting me noticed, I started paying far more attention to bowlers on T.V.

Currently, I admire Shane Bond and Brett Lee the most. I have been able to train with Shane on some of his comebacks from injury, and to see his approach to cricket first hand would have to be my biggest influence.

Q4. What has been your own personal highlight from your career so far?

Richie: Probably the tour to South Africa for the New Zealand A team. I hadn’t played much first class cricket and it was my first tour.

Q5. How important do you think training and participating in matches overseas is? What overseas teams have you played for and what have you learnt from the experience?

Richie: Training is paramount. Whatever I can do that will help me in a game I consider training. I haven’t yet played an off-season overseas. This winter will be my first, I am going to Darwin to prepare for the D-tour to Aus.

Q6. What are your views on 20:20 cricket, and do you think there is sufficient cricket played at the state level in New Zealand?

Richie: I haven’t actually played a game of it yet. So I cant really comment. But I think that Canterbury really enjoyed the domestic competition this year and are looking forward to perhaps competing in the world 20:20 competition in London later this year.

Q7. What is your opinion on overseas players playing in State cricket?

Richie: I think that it is great to be able to learn from the experience other players had. After all, that’s one of the only ways to gain experience, to talk to copy…

Q8. What is your nickname, and how did you get it?

Richie: Sherlo, for obvious reasons. That's about it for me, no one has enough dirt on me to form an event related one! Whew!!

Q9. What aspirations do you have outside of cricket?

Richie: I would like to have something to my name as far as music goes. Also, I'd maybe like to run a Marathon at some stage.

Q10. How much does playing for a New Zealand 'A' Team mean to you? Do you see the 'A' team as a stepping stone to full honours, or as a side-show detracting from State and full international cricket?

Richie: No, it’s a stepping stone. Maybe not a direct one, but one in the right direction. As I said before, one of the quickest ways to get experience is to sponge off someone who has already been there and done that. For me, someone like Chris Martin will be invaluable to watch and learn from.

Q11. You suffered an injury in the build up to 2005/6 season. How much of a set back has this turned out to be, and how did you go about trying to recover from the injury?

Richie: All injuries are set backs. The more serious and time consuming, the more character building they tend to be. I believe that what I have learnt from being constantly dealing with injuries relating to bowling will serve me well when I am able to string, 6,7,8,9 games in a row during a season. When I am fit now, I really appreciate it, and I’m careful with how I recover and build up load. I am now beginning to understand how much work being an international bowler will require!

As I said earlier, Shane Bond has been a huge help. He may not even know it, but he has. A couple of our injuries overlapped, and I said to myself whatever he does, I’m going to do. We went to boxing 4 times a week, we did sprints, gym and later on I would bowl to him and he would bowl to me. In between these sessions, we’d play some playstation and I’d be able to subtly quiz him on this and that. That was really instrumental in me keeping motivation to prepare for the next season, even though the present one hadn’t even finished.

Q12. You started off playing for CD, your local team. What was the motivation behind your move to Canterbury and what have been the benefits and difficulties of your move in hindsight?

Richie: No one likes to move teams. For me it was all about playing opportunity and exposure. District associations are hard because of obvious geographical disadvantages. I was living in Nelson [on the North coast of the South Island] and recognised that to take my cricket seriously I would have to move to a home base. So, given that I was going to have to move regardless, it was all about working out where the smartest place to locate myself would be. I had already spent a year at University in Christchurch, I had spent the following year at the Academy in Christchurch, and mid way through the off season I was offered a contract for Canterbury. It just made sense.

The benefits for me have way out weighed the difficulties. There is no way I would have made the New Zealand A team tour to South Africa had I not moved. Also, things like medical advice and treatment have been a lot easier.

Q13. How did you find your experience playing with the New Zealand A team on tour to South Africa? What did you learn from the experience?

Richie: It was very good. I was on a limited playing load, every other game almost, so it wasn’t too stressful. But I learnt that there are some exceedingly good batters around. And that is brilliant, because when you nick one out, it feels so good!

Q14. How have you managed to juggle your university studies at Lincoln University and still manage to fit in all the required cricket training?

Richie: Easily, I put it on hold. Ha ha! I’m a little bit naughty in that sense. I have only done a year of my degree and feel that there is plenty of time for that after cricket.

Q15. You went to Chennai to take part in a Dennis Lillee-bowling clinic. Was this a useful experience and what did you learn?

Richie: I learnt a lot in that two weeks. But when I look back, the things that Dennis taught me were very simple things, things that you would think wouldn’t even really matter. But that is probably what made him a bowling genius, he was very cunning and skillful, but just kept things simple and patient.

And obviously you don’t have to go to India to realise its hot. But you do have to go there and bowl in it to realise what effect is has on your body. Luckily I enjoy the heat.

Q16. What do you think you need to do to get noticed by the national team selectors?

Richie: Play every game of a season. Simple as that.

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Once again, many thanks to Richie for spending his time answering our questions. Once again, thanks also go to his state, Canterbury for allowing us to interview him. I'm sure you'll all join me in wishing him luck for a successful year with the ball next year, and also that he'll stay clear of injuries for a while!

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