Timely reminder of what has made New Zealand's cricket history

THE FIRST FIFTY, by Lynn McConnell (Harper Sports)

Lynn McConnell could never have imagined how perfectly he timed the production of his latest book, The First Fifty, and its lovingly sculpted tribute to the half-century of Test cricket wins which New Zealand achieved with the defeat of England last April.

At the moment, New Zealand cricket is at the lowest point of its long and lustrous history.

The stupidity and cupidity of a few players who have taken up trade-union cudgels in an attempt to wreck the whole structure of our game threatens the very existence and health of New Zealand Test cricket.

And then, bless him, along comes McConnell with his tribute to the half-century of victories and the men who from March 13, 1956 to April 3, 2002 installed those jewels in the New Zealand cricket crown.

In keeping with his reputation for impeccable and painstaking research, McConnell offers sufficiently long portraits of each match, the men and heroes it contained, and basic scoreboards.

These alone are explicit enough to make the chest swell with pride as each of the Test countries fell in turn to the New Zealanders.

But the real beauty of this book is that McConnell has focused on a leading New Zealand player from each match, and drawn on that player's memories of the match.

These personal touches bring out the real delight and dignity and humour that has a special New Zealand flavour.

These are the words and tales of genuine cricketers, laced with New Zealand humour. They flesh out the skeleton of facts and numbers. In many cases the heroism and courage shine through sufficiently to make the heart beat with pride and the spirit of sport soar.

Space would not permit a mention of all the treasures of this book. But the way John Reid and Merv Wallace devised the plan to upset West Indies at Eden Park on that glorious day is worth re-telling.

Or the heroism of Paul Barton in South Africa in 1962 who had to re-fashion his batting technique after dislocating a shoulder, and go on to score a match-winning century.

You can live again the Canterbury cricket administrators insisting that cow-dung be rolled into the Lancaster Park pitch on which Graham Dowling a few days later scored 239 and, helped by Dick Motz and Gary Bartlett, fashioned a victory over India.

Hedley Howarth, who almost invented laconic humour, mentions his skill as a gully fieldsman because he could not throw a ball to save himself.

Bruce Murray marvelling that Dowling should ask him to move one pace to his left as a close-in catcher seconds before the catch went plumb into Murray's hands.

Geoff Howarth hitting precisely the right note by saying he enjoyed the theatre of captaincy, and Richard Collinge describing as "very ordinary" one of the most famous deliveries in our history - the ball which bowled Geoff Boycott in the second innings at the Basin Reserve in 1978.

You can weep for the mistake that cost Stephen Boock so much of his Test career, and the impish humour in the remark that after a sudden recall he had his hair cut to suggest he was at a high level of fitness.

Martin Snedden dwells with some macabre delight on the Richard Hadlee-Jeremy Coney "cone of silence" as the New Zealanders were beating West Indies in 1987.

The tales and tributes, and sometimes slight tall stories, are the real gems of this book.

McConnell gives these as the real reasons why New Zealand cricketers of the past have been aware of their history, of the hard struggle up the ladder, of victories that have gone before, but have never forgotten that the game is also a sport, a pastime in which droll humour and dramatic victory play equal parts.

There is much more in this handsomely-produced book than I have mentioned, but will tempt the reader to discover for her or himself.

I would suggest that each one of the players who are now on strike for more money should read a copy of this book. Then they may realise that New Zealand's Test history has been carefully built on pride and heroism and skill and humour, and that peculiar love for this peculiar game that sustained those New Zealanders through the thin years before (and sometimes after) 1956.

Tamper with that history, if they dare.