The Star: October 31, 2019

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Thursday October 31 2019 The Star
Tower JuncTion
Phone: 348 6020 Open 7 days 11am to late www.speightstowerjunction.co.nz
McClure bats through adversity
• By Gordon Findlater
TWO HUNDREDS in as
many innings is a good sign
Canterbury batsman Ken
McClure is on the road to
putting a couple of “pretty
frustrating” years behind him.
The 25-year-old scored 121
from 125 deliveries on Saturday
to help East Christchurch
Shirley to a 152-run victory over
Heathcote in the premiership
one-day competition.
He followed the white ball ton
up with an even more impressive
red ball century on Monday in a
three-day match for Canterbury
A against Otago A. Batting at
No 3, McClure scored 196 before
being bowled by former Black
Caps spinner Mark Craig.
Last year McClure was forced
to retire hurt twice in the space
of three weeks. In October, he
was struck on the helmet after a
bouncer from Black Caps bowler
Neil Wagner. In his first match
back after the concussion, he
lasted just seven deliveries before
suffering the same fate to former
Black Caps paceman Mitchell
McClenaghan.
The two blows to the head led
to McClure suffering concussion
symptoms and anxiety around
being hit again.
“You go through the day and
you just don’t feel yourself.
Everything’s a bit slow and
you’ve constantly got a headache.
You just don’t feel right for a long
time and you can’t really sleep,”
said McClure.
“Then you get in the nets and
you’ve got to face some nasty
short stuff – it didn’t make for a
great time.”
Following the incidents,
McClure sought help from a
sports psychologist to overcome
the fear of being hit again and
turn his focus to scoring runs.
“It took me a while to get over
it, but I’ve done a lot of work
with my mental skills and I feel
One-eyed Cantab
Gordon Findlater
gordon.findlater@starmedia.kiwi
Tower JuncTion
in a good place,” he said.
“I believe I’m a good player
of the short ball, I’ve just got hit
in the head by two pretty good
guys that bowl it well, being Neil
and Mitch.
“[Scoring the two centuries]
gives you that reassurance that
you’re actually training the right
things and doing the right things
in the nets.”
McClure says getting his form
back with the bat has been a case
of ensuring his head is right on
IT APPEARS World Rugby is
putting in a late bid to be labelled
2019’s most politically correct
organisation after media in the
United Kingdom reported it had
handed out a four-figure fine to
England for their V formation
during the All Blacks haka.
If the rumours are correct,
World Rugby could be set to step
up their PC policing in 2020 –
specifically in cultural values.
The current rumours
swirling are that staff from the
organisation could be placed
strategically around Eden Park
during All Blacks tests next year
to hand out on-the-spot fines to
anyone who mumbles their way
through the Maori verse of the
national anthem.
The fine for the V formation
is by all accounts a slap across
the wrist at less than $5000. But
the message being sent seems
even more absurd than when we
were trying to
HEAD SPACE:
Ken McClure
believes
nailing things
off the field
has helped
lead to a
return to form
with the bat. ​
the field and off it.
The concussions came on the
back of a 2017/18 season, which
saw him stood down for much
of the Canterbury campaign. In
January 2018, he pleaded guilty
to assaulting a man in Hanmer
Springs on September 10 while
on a pre-season trip with East
Christchurch Shirley.
McClure admits a combination
of personal issues, the
concussions and his lack of form
with the bat built up.
figure out why ball carriers were
being sent off for running hard
at poor tackling techniques, or
why tacklers were receiving the
same punishment for ball head
high tackles at the height usually
associated with knee level.
The fine is believed to have
been handed out due to England
breaking a protocol which
dictates teams must be at least
20m away, behind their own 10m
lines for the haka.
It is not yet understood if the
cameramen seen lying on their
stomachs during the haka have
been fined or not for the way
they presented themselves.
For me though, the
biggest takeaway from the
situation is the sad
realisation that three
days out from the world’s
biggest game of rugby in
four years, we’re talking
about the shape a team
rugby friday & saturday night
Live and Loud!
‘You end up bringing cricket
home and it doesn’t make life very
enjoyable at all’ – Ken McClure
2 Troup Drive, Riccarton Phone: 348 6020 Open 7 days 11am to late www.speightstowerjunction.co.nz
“If you’ve only got on the field
going well and everything else is
not going well, then eventually
cricket’s going to take a U-turn
and it’s going to be tough. You
end up bringing cricket home
and it doesn’t make life very
enjoyable at all,” he said.
“With me, it’s probably been
nailing my stuff off the field.
My personal life, my diet, my
sleeping patterns and just
everyday life.
“This year I’ve really been
trying to nail the basics around
nutrition and sleep and making
good training habits. I think that
will lead to scoring more runs.”
In 2016, McClure burst on to
the domestic scene as a 21-yearold
with 193 not out to help
Canterbury chase down 397 and
record a five-wicket win over
Otago in a four-day match.
Now he says his focus is on
the future and re-cementing his
place in the Canterbury team.
With his return to form at club
and Canterbury A level, it’s likely
he won’t have to wait too long
with positions in the playing
11 likely becoming available
when Black Caps Tom Latham,
Henry Nicholls, Todd Astle and
Matt Henry are called up to the
national side.
Haka fiasco overshadows All Blacks drubbing
CHALLENGE: England facing the haka on Saturday.
lined up in during a haka which
took place several days ago.
No, the biggest talking point
in rugby here right now isn’t
whether or not South Africa’s
brute force will be enough to
match it with an English side
which put on arguably the most
dominant win any of us have
ever seen over the All Blacks. It’s
not even who will be the next All
Blacks coach.
Perhaps the best news about
the All Blacks not taking part
in the final over the weekend is
we will be safe in the knowledge
Sunday’s news won’t be about
how the opposition chose to
present themselves while 22 New
Zealanders performed a dance in
front of them. What a time to be
alive.
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