From bats to sticks for Burrows

Growing up in a country where hockey is still a minority sport,it is no surprise that New Zealand captain Phillip Burrows had a brief fling with cricket....

Growing up in a country where hockey is still a minority sport,it is no surprise that New Zealand captain Phillip Burrows had a brief fling with cricket. Burrows played a bit for Wellingtons junior cricket side,but decided to drop the bat for the stick once it was time to make a choice. Interestingly,he has also played competitive hockey with New Zealand spinner Jeetan Patel in the national league.

I started my career playing both cricket and hockey. I used to play hockey with Jeetan Patel for the Wellington Reds and having played cricket and hockey at the state level,I decided to continue with hockey while Patel continued cricket. We remain very good friends, he says.

As the only professional player in the touring New Zealand team here,Burrowss name stands out in a list of players who have played 200 or more matches for the Black Sticks. With New Zealand getting a late invite in the upcoming Punjab Gold Cup,the Wellington-based player sounded confident of performing well with a young bunch of players.

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We are hopeful of giving our best. Besides five new faces in the squad,we have some experienced guys in Dean Cousins,Simon Child and James Nation. I believe this tournament will be vital to our preparation for the 2010 World Cup.

Burrows is one of only four professional players in the New Zealand domestic league. And with stalwarts like Paul Woolford,Bevan Hari and Gareth Brooks having retired,Burrows has a lot of things to ponder upon in the coming season. In New Zealand,there are very few players who play hockey professionally,though things have changed a bit after our silver medal in the 2006 Commonwealth Games. But many players still play only at weekends, says the 28-year-old midfielder who is New Zealands top scorer with 95 goals in 203 matches.

The cricket connection still lives,though,and Burrows,a huge Sachin Tendulkar fan,hopes to meet the batting legend when the Indian cricket team tour New Zealand next month.

Nitin Sharma

Nitin Sharma is an Assistant Editor with the sports team of The Indian Express. Based out of Chandigarh, Nitin works with the print sports desk while also breaking news stories for the online sports team. A Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Award recipient for the year 2017 for his story ‘Harmans of Moga’, Nitin has also been a two-time recipient of the UNFPA-supported Laadli Media Awards for Gender Sensitivity for the years 2022 and 2023 respectively. Nitin mainly covers Olympics sports disciplines with his main interests in shooting, boxing, wrestling, athletics and much more. The last 17 years with The Indian Express has seen him unearthing stories across India from as far as Andaman and Nicobar to the North East. Nitin also covers cricket apart from women’s cricket with a keen interest. Nitin has covered events like the 2010 Commonwealth Games, the 2011 ODI World Cup, 2016 T20 World Cup and the 2017 AIBA World Youth Boxing Championships. An alumnus of School of Communication Studies, Panjab University, from where he completed his Masters in Mass Communications degree, Nitin has been an avid quizzer too. A Guru Nanak Dev University Colour holder, Nitin’s interest in quizzing began in the town of Talwara Township, a small town near the Punjab-Himachal Pradesh border. When not reporting, Nitin's interests lie in discovering new treks in the mountains or spending time near the river Beas at his hometown. ... Read More

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