Batting pathway advocated
John Hill
NEW Northern Districts women’s high-performance development officer Nicola Browne had some simple words of advice for Poverty Bay players wanting to make Northern Districts teams — bat, bat and bat some more.
“We’ve got countless bowlers in ND but we’re short of batters, people who want to spend time in the middle,” said the 26-year-old who has 89 one-day internationals (ODIs) and 14 Twenty/20 appearances to her name.
“If they are prepared to put the work in, there are opportunities out there in sport.”
Browne, a 1.78-metre right-handed batswoman and right-arm medium-pace bowler, is only two weeks into her new role but was keen to come to Gisborne.
“It’s important for the development of the women’s game that the girls here know they’re important to us.
“At this stage I’m just putting names to faces and letting the girls know there is a pathway if they want it.
“One of the things that I will be encouraging them to do is dream the dream.
“They’ve got to want to play for ND, then the White Ferns and then to be the best in the world.
“That’s my dream — to be the best all-rounder in the world.”
Browne, known as Manty, has put a career as a freelance graphic designer on hold in her pursuit of that ambition.
“I’ve been lucky in that I play and coach cricket in schools in the summer and play and coach netball in the winter, for Waikato.
“There’s not a lot of money in women’s cricket, apart from some prizemoney at world cups, but that’s the lifestyle I’ve chosen at this stage of my career.
“I get to travel to countries that I might not otherwise get to see. We were in England this year for the Twenty/20 world champs and next year they are in the West Indies.”
Manty?
“Cliff Dickeson (ND women’s state coach) gave me that nickname when I first made the ND development team when I was in fifth form, year 11.
“I was just starting to grow and was all limbs. Cliff said I looked like an insect, limbs everywhere, so he called me praying mantis, which over the years got shortened to Mantis then Manty.
“I don’t think I’ve ever been called Nicola by my flatmates or team-mates since then.
“I was pretty unorthodox back then — still am to a certain extent.
“I tend to do things differently from other players, not by choice . . . it’s just the way I am.
“When I started playing cricket I had one shot, a square drive. I’d square drive everything rather than cut or just drive. People said you can’t do that all the time but I did and scored a mountain of runs.”
A goal defence for Waikato at national level, Browne also bucks the trend in her netball with a “stay-low-to-the ground stance as opposed to standing up”.
Browne — who has scored 1456 ODI runs for an average of 29.71 and taken 60 wickets at 33.56 — said she probably got her unorthodox approach from “Nan Browne”.
“She didn’t make national teams or anything like that. Back then she was first and foremost a housewife and didn’t get the opportunities that I’ve had.
“But she played off a scratch handicap at golf and was a good tennis player.”
A member of the White Ferns who lost the world cup 50-over final and Twenty/20 final to England this year, Browne said that after losing the second of those, the Twenty/20 final, it took about a month to get over the disappointment.
“In the Twenty/20 final I batted out the overs but I really wanted to score more runs, so that was a personal disappointment as well as disappointment over the team loss.
“England are a very good side with players all having specific roles, whereas we tend to have more all-rounders.”