March 25, 2026 • 21 mins
On Sports Fix with D'Arcy Waldegrave for 25th March 2026, on Monday it was announced that the NZ20 competition was the way forward for domestic T20 cricket in New Zealand. What does the competition need to do from a promotional standpoint in order to be a success and gain traction with Kiwis? Founder of Duco Events, David Higgins, an organisation responsible for the NRL Auckland 9's and the Black Clash joined D'Arcy to discuss.
D'Arcy shares his thoughts on the Warriors squad named for Friday's match with Luke Metcalf returning early from injury.
And D'Arcy and NZ Herald sports journalist Alex Powell discuss what needs to happen for NZ20 to be good to go by next season and the upcoming Japanese Grand Prix in Formula 1.
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Speaker 1 (00:09):
You're listening to a podcast from News Talks EDB follow
this and our wide range of podcasts now on iHeartRadio.
This is Sportsfix Howard by News Talks.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
It be Hi, Welcome on Edded, a SPORTSFX podcast. I'm
Darcy order grave Head. It's a Wednesday, twenty fifth of
March twenty twenty six. Everything you need to know with
the wonderful wide world of sport here in New Zealand
is right up in front of you. Our feature interview
today is David Higgins. David has been a key driver
in sport tayment if you will. The biggest success he's
(00:43):
had is the Blackclash. That is of course T twenty cricket.
So will end ZED twenty pick up with only a
six month leading and what do they have to do
to ensure success? David joins us shortly. We'll be joined
in the chamber by Alex palms In on the Herald Scribe.
As we look at in z twenty now the dust
(01:05):
is settled and it looks like it's going ahead. Should right.
We'll also talk a week bit of Formula one because
you know it's Alex and Dusk and we love our
race cars. Liam Lawson Front Center in Japan this weekend. Hey,
thanks very much to all of a crew at GJ
Gardener Holmes, New Zealand's most trusted home builder, your continued
support of the Sports Fixed podcast. All right, strap in,
(01:29):
let's do it. In other news and in the Wonderment
of the Glory of Sports Today, Warriors conductor Andrew Webster
is convinced that the brand new and shiney Harves, pairing
a ton of Boyd and the returning Luke Metcalf will
bring fire to the turf on Friday Night as the
Tigers look to the rail the Penrose Juggernaut and even
(01:51):
with an unbeaten start to the season averaging forty points, again,
it's not our year yet.
Speaker 3 (01:57):
Call your Jetsna's getting a great job of putting his
five eight or his fullback in great position to execute football.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
And I think we'll be given Luke Metcalf a really
good opportunity to play, so they'll compliment.
Speaker 3 (02:09):
Each other well.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
Ben Wayne is really and willing to step into the
breach all the boots of Chris Wood. Wayne is the
man of the hour as would continues his recovery from
a knee injury and issue which just keep them out
of the All White squad for the upcoming friendlies against
Finland and Chile.
Speaker 4 (02:26):
If I'm called upon to do that, it's amazing And
obviously it's a shame that Chris isn't here because everyone
knows where he brings the side, So try and do
that position to justice as much as he can.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
And approche Is cricket coach knows that the current t
tweet series against the black Caps isn't all that the
players aren't the best their respective countries have to offer.
But a national cat is a national cap, says Shooky. Comrade,
whether these fully fled international kick I think.
Speaker 5 (02:54):
The juris are in that and many people will have
the opinions on it.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
But as soon as you pull on that dirtieth.
Speaker 5 (02:59):
Jumper and I'm sure the same for the key reason
you represent your country and you've got to try and
make them run.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
Both league football and cricket. Tastey Morsels from Sport Today.
Speaker 1 (03:10):
News and Avidian It's Sportsfix with Darcy Valdegreve.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
We'll join now in the Sportsvex podcast by David Higgins.
He's the man behind at Duco Events have been responsible
for some of the biggest sporttainment events in New Zeiland
over the last ten years, including the Auckland Nines at
Rugby League and of course the hugely successful Black Clash
which involves T twenty cricket. He joins us now to
(03:37):
discuss the future and what will make the n Z
twenty league actually work. Hi David, Hi, Darcy be on
the show and great to be talking to you as well.
The first person that's sprang to mind when the en
Z twenty you got almost rubber stand. I mean there's
a bit of water to go under the bridge yet,
but essentially that's where T twenty is going domestically here
(03:57):
at New Zealand. I thought to myself, well, I know
who knows how to brought a good promotion together? Plainly
the Black Class has worked particularly well, and you've been
involved in a number of other promotions, some entertainments around sports.
So I thought I'll ask you what the best way
to go with this is. These are exciting times. What
do you think is the best direction David, that this
(04:17):
competition could take.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
Well, I think it's very exciting for the sport of
cricket in New Zealand. This development. I mean we've had
experience taking a new sport and concept from an idea
on a whiteboard to a commercial reality more than once.
An example is the nrl Auckland Nines, which did start
on a whiteboard and sold out Eden Park four years
(04:40):
in a row, and then also Black Clash, Hot Spring Spars.
Black Class you mentioned earlier, is into its ninth year
as the number one rated sports event on New Zealand TV.
It has the most viewers for eight of the nine years,
so you know, from that perspective, I've got some experience
to comment without being an insider on the new direction
(05:02):
for cricket. Why are it's exciting is they've opted to
go all in on New Zealand having its own tournament,
its own rights, and being in control rather than being
at the behest of Australia, which I think the other
proposal involved teams in the Australian League, which is obviously
(05:24):
what rugby league do with the Warriors and some other sports.
But I think this cricket way, if it's done right,
could be immensely powerful for the growth of cricket in
New Zealand.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
What's the key what actually works in this? Do you
look toward looking after the pundas always talk about being
crowd centric. Do you have to get the best players,
the best venues that the location for these particular teams,
what do you think is there should be their primary
focus to pick this up make it run well.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
I think if you're looking very long term, the key
is to get the majority of young children watching cricket,
playing cricket, and excited about cricket. That's the long term
holy grail for any sport. And it takes a long
term view and a lot of them are short sighted.
And you think back to when there was no SkyTV
and no Internet, and rugby and cricket were on free
(06:18):
to air. We all grew up on watching on TV
one or TV two. I think that this has the
potential to go back to that where and the key
to its money where if this new cricket league is
so well financed and has so much money in the
bank at the get go, it can afford to put
its product on free to air and not many, not
(06:40):
every household has Sky or the Internet. And if that happens,
you'll get kids watching cricket after school and playing cricket,
poor kids as well, not just rich kids, because everyone's
got free to air and that will have a very
subtle gradual growth of the game where I could see
cricket becoming the number one sport like it is in India.
(07:01):
And obviously, if your products free to air, you can't
budget much for broadcast revenue. But if you're very well
funded and financed and set up, that's less of an issue,
so you can afford to take that long term view.
And from what I've heard, there's some serious money behind
the league and there could also be some serious money
(07:22):
behind the franchises and across the board. And then you
just need star players. So if you're on free air,
and I'm not saying they will be, but if they
are and you've got star players, and then you've got
kids and teenagers getting into it, you're in ten twenty
years time you'll be the biggest sport in New Zealand
by country mile. And you know, rugby union over the
(07:46):
last forty years has sort of gone the other way.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
When you try and drive exel warm props is what
we call them in film industry, but people actually to
the ground. What have you found that's worked for you?
How do you actually get the bums on the seats
physically to these events?
Speaker 3 (08:05):
Well, it's start so you need stars, start players, and
it needs to be entertaining. The thing about T twenty cricket,
it is entertaining. I mean, look at baseball in the
United States. It's kind of it's got an advantage over
maybe the footy codes and that there's no physical not
as much physical danger. Like kids of all shapes and
(08:27):
sizes can play cricket without mummy worried they're going to
get smashed by prop and it's nice weather and some
it's more of a summer sport, and so I think
it's got the potential to be very very popular. Thing
like baseball in the US. The T twenty is quite fast.
Obviously crick connoisseurs love test cricket. I used to like
(08:49):
watching test cricket, but the T twenty game is a
lot more accessible with sixers hit and speedball radars. So
I think obviously everything has a honeymoon period or starting out,
But if you've got the mix of star knowing players
from the Black Caps or what of involved in maybe
some international with say math, viewership accessible to all kids,
(09:13):
not just kids with sky, and I think then there's
a recipe for it to develop a fan following.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
Dissecting the sporting agenda. It's Sportsfex with Dancy.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
Waldgrave Metcalfe is back. That is the big news out
of the Warriors. He was named in the thirteen yesterday
for Friday's match up against the West Tigers, to be
played at Mountain Smart the Go Media Stadium. This is
huge for the side. It adds to the layers of
intensity this team has developed over the last three weeks.
(09:52):
Only makes perfect sense to me to stick them in
the sixth jumper and combine them with Tanner Boyd. And
I don't believe anybody unless they're absolutely hardcore or liars,
could have predicted how good Tanner Boyd would be in
the first three games of the season. So you can't
unseat them. And that's the problem. Some coaches have too
(10:13):
many good players not enough positions, and what a wonderful
problem that is to have. The other problem they have,
if you can call it a problem, is Mitch Barnett
and what to do with the skipper, the outgoing skipper.
I fully applaud Andrew Webster, even though this may change
by the time they start playing on Friday nights, because
(10:34):
that's what normally happens of the NRL. I like Mitch
from the bench. What they have to be cognizant of
is the effect that this guy has on the team
from the exterior and on the interior. But knowing that
the end of the year he is leaving, they need
to use this time to blood and bed in more
front rowers. Look, they were doing that last year, but
(10:57):
now they've got the perfect runway if you will, to
bring that next generation of front rowers and edge players through.
It is an ideal opportunity. Andrew Webster has got some issues,
if you will, but the wonderful issues to have. And
before we start saying it's our year, I've told you
this once and I'll keep telling it to the end
(11:18):
of the year. It's not anyone's year until they reach
the final and then we'll see. Remember it is the NRL.
Anything can happen, and more often than not it does.
Speaker 5 (11:30):
The Chamber is now in session on Sportsfix and the
chamber doors are rich to Sunday and beyond said doors
from the New Zealand held NZ to heerld dot Co
dot nza's ascribe, Alex Powell oves as race cars.
Speaker 2 (11:43):
He's been writing EPs around en Zeda twenty so he
seems like the perfect person to come on down. Good
eight lex Acident.
Speaker 5 (11:51):
How are you?
Speaker 2 (11:52):
Yeah, very well, great to have you in here. Let's
start things off with the n Z twenty. You've been
following this around like a bad smell for months and
months and months and months, but it's an intriguing story.
Essentially it's going ahead. I say essentially it's in principle
only what has to happen now so we know this
is actually going to bid down come what January.
Speaker 4 (12:15):
The important thing from here is that it gets the
license from New Zealand Cricket. So New Zealand Cricket has
given the green light that this is the option they
want to pursue, which I feel like is the right
one compared to the entry into the Big Bash. But
now there are a few hurdles that NZ twenty has
to jump over to convince New Zealand Cricket. One will
roll around the ownership stake. So initially the proposal was
that New Zealand Cricket would not own any part of
(12:37):
NZ twenty. Now it feels like that is on the
table to get it.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
Out of the line.
Speaker 4 (12:41):
The big one is around what happens to the women's game,
and we know that NZ twenty will have a woman's
competition at some point. We don't know what shape that
will take. Will it mirror the men's competition, will it
be different? Franchise owners so like, these are all things
that have to be worked out, but I guess the
key thing is that they are very able to be
worked out in time.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
So involvement or engagement with the New Zealand Cricket within
something that is essentially a private league. There's fish looks
all through that isn't there.
Speaker 4 (13:10):
Well, I mean that's the key thing to take on
here is what ZI twenty are aiming to do ZI
cricket ownership or not, it's nothing that hasn't been done
successfully somewhere else in the world. You know New Zealand Cricket,
Oh sorry, cricket in New Zealand being the last ones
too have a franchise league means they do actually have
a really good understanding of what does and doesn't work
(13:31):
everywhere else around the world. So you go somewhere like
the West Indies Cricket. West Indies owns none of the
Caribbean Premier League. What they do is they have a
license and then that is sold back to them you know,
so if that's the model that.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
So they can't meddle. Basically is we don't want them
in the Midland game. We don't want that, we don't
want this. They just want to cut exxtently.
Speaker 4 (13:49):
I mean, these are things that have to be worked out.
If New Zealand Cricket wants to have some sort of
governance role, then that'll be on the table. If they
just want ownership and they're for the money that comes
with it, that'll be on the table. But these are
conversations that are ongoing the.
Speaker 2 (14:02):
Women's side of it, and we've seen that the WBL
has been successful and women's cricket is still the only
growth area it really is accelerating. That won't be something
that could fold this. It's a timing situation. Is it immediate?
Is it the season after? Once they're bettered in what
happens with the bloke? So how does that go?
Speaker 4 (14:22):
So if all goes to plan, the intended launchers will
be January twenty twenty seven for the men's competition and
December twenty twenty seven for the women's I mean, these
things are subject to change. There has still a lot
of water to go under the bridge. I wrote in
The Herald last week after speaking to Sophie Divine and
Susie Bates, that this competition is ugly more important for
the women than it.
Speaker 2 (14:40):
Is for the men.
Speaker 4 (14:40):
You know, men's franchise leagues are a dime a dozen.
You go anywhere in the world cricket wise, there is
probably a franchise league, with the exception of New Zeland,
the women's league, sorry, the women's game. At the moment
there are only four operating franchise league. It's got India, Australia,
England and the Caribbean. There's one more little launch next
month in Bangladesh. But five franchise leagues is not enough
(15:02):
to grow the sport. You know, we've seen the interest
in the women's game. You've seen the World Cup last
year which India won. That will be huge India behind it.
But it's time that New Zealand does have a slice
of the pie in that regards. You look at the
white fans playing Socket's only really Sophie Divine and Amelia
occur that get these opportunities regularly. Susie Bates will get
the odd gurg let to who will get the odd
(15:22):
gig and that will continue to improve, but having opportunity
for every single female cricketer in this country to play
at a professional level at home, because let's not forget
domestic cricket here is still largely semi professional. They are
not contracted around men and women and I think that
is rightly a priority for New Zealand cricket.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
The timing is more than interesting. It's a short runway.
Can they get it done because they've got to organized finance,
they've got an organized structure, they've got to get the
players that everything. It's not a lot of time. Is
that a risk? It's not.
Speaker 4 (15:57):
They do have what Don McKinnon, the establishing Committee chair,
described as a backup of a January twenty eight launch.
They will want to be January twenty seven to make
sure there is some form of domestic cricket in New
Zee over the next summer. But you're right, they do
not have a lot of time. And I mean it
just comes down to do they have the right people
in charge?
Speaker 2 (16:16):
Do they?
Speaker 4 (16:16):
I think they do right. I think there are some
very clever people involved in this. You look at Don McKinnon,
he's in a mug. David Hollman along the same lines.
You look at Stephen Fleming, Dan Vattory. I understand perhaps
Brenda McCullum might also be involved in some re good.
These guys know how franchise cricket works. You know. Heath Mills,
the head of the Players Association, has really been a
(16:37):
big driver of this. He's not an idiot, so you
really have to just back who's in charge now. But
you do need that sort of green light from newsand
Cricket to just go.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
And when they can, then they can start getting the
money on board, which I'm presuming they've already got money,
it's just not being promised. They've got to work out
the structure. They've got to work out where the franchise
is going to be based, who's going to bid for
the franchisees? How there is too much work to do.
There's a lot of it going on.
Speaker 4 (17:05):
I wouldn't say too much. I think this is doable.
You know, a nine months we've seen franchise leagues pop
up in the USA and in Canada and Nepal. Like
the cricket infrastructure that is in place in New Zealand
is already here, you know, so let's not take that away.
But if investors are willing to go to Canada and
invest in franchise like they will be willing to come
to New Zealand. Like we don't really have a grasp
(17:26):
of how highly regarded New Zealand cricket is around the world.
Speaker 2 (17:29):
You know.
Speaker 4 (17:30):
You look at the Black fer and the Black Fans,
the Black Caps and the White Ferns performing in tournaments
year and year out. You know that does reflect really
well on New Zealand cricket, you know, and does make
it a good proposition. But also the way that New
Zealand law is for investing in things, like we're a
very clean country in that regard like it is. You know,
you look at what Bill Foley was able to bring
(17:51):
overseas money into to found Auckland FC. You know there
are examples of this working both in New Zealand with
sport and around the world with cricket.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
The asterisk is around Bill Foley. As he said he's
going to build a new stadium. I said, bro, you
haven't dealt with the Auckland Council yet, good lacks, I
get things done. So what happened to that stadium?
Speaker 4 (18:11):
Like I think it's another podcast in itself.
Speaker 2 (18:13):
It is, Hey, let's just have a quick tickle around
Formula one. Back to one of the one of the
great tracks, Suzuka. What a place that is going to
be another test for these brand new cars. About a
couple of weeks to get the Phillips screwdrivers out and
the lumphammers and see what they can do to these cars.
What are we expecting.
Speaker 4 (18:31):
I'm hoping that we'll see some overtaking, you know, because
that has been a big driver towards what these new
regulations are about getting competitive racing. Suzuka is not a
great track for overtaking in past. There is only one
sort of DRS overtaking zone. Of course, they're not using
the DRS anymore. You have overtake mode, which is different.
But let's now actually see if the rubber hits the
(18:54):
road in that regard.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
At this circuit, these drivers and these teams, they will
be a lot more comfortable with what the cars can do,
what their limits are as well. So we're going to
see water finding its level.
Speaker 4 (19:08):
I don't think comfortable is the right word. I think
ha ha.
Speaker 2 (19:12):
I think they know a bit more about the cars.
Speaker 4 (19:14):
I think they're more familiar you go, but there is
still a lot of issues with these cars. You know,
we've seen Adrian Newey over the last week's step aside,
like Adrian Newey is a genius and he's.
Speaker 2 (19:24):
Adrian Newey was never going to be a principle of
a Formula One team. Too much politics, too much to death.
He just wants to build cars. It's a geek.
Speaker 4 (19:32):
But now he has the runway to do that. I
keep using runway in this podcast. He's decided he needs
to divert himself completely into how that Aston Martin Carr
is going to go. So we're seeing actually the demands
on these teams now and after that nothing five weeks off.
Speaker 2 (19:47):
What are they going to do with the five weeks?
They going to carry on tinkering? Where do they tinker?
They've got test tracks? Are there limitations around this? Of course,
ladies and gentlemens, because Donald Trump started a war in
the Middle East and people can't go there and race
cars anymore.
Speaker 4 (20:03):
Right, No, So Bahrain and Saudi two races that I
quite like. I quite like Bahrain as a track. Saudi
might be a bit too quick for me, but they're
both gone from the calendar, so it's only gonna be
a twenty two race season, which I mean you think
back to what a few years ago, and it was
sort of nineteen twenty races and that was a lot,
and now twenty four is the minimum. It's like, oh,
we only get twenty two. What are these teams going
to do in five weeks? How much can they do?
(20:25):
I mean, I'm sure they'll be allowed to work on
their cast because it's in the season, but how much
can you actually achieve without proper opportunity to test on
a race course? Like we saw these teams all turn
up in Melbourne confidence what they had because you know,
they've done the simulator work and they've done testing, and
then once the season actually began, we saw who actually
was out in front and who was, in Aston Martin's case,
really far behind.
Speaker 2 (20:45):
Thank you very much Alex Powell for joining us here
in the chamber. You best get on and write some
more words.
Speaker 1 (20:50):
Leading a vix. We've got just the ticket. It's Sports
Fix how by News Talks IVY And that was.
Speaker 2 (20:56):
The Sports Fix podcast for a Wednesday, twenty fifth of
March twenty twenty sixty. J Gardner Homes New Zealand's most
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(21:17):
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(21:41):
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Speaker 1 (21:47):
For more from News Talk ZEDB. Listen live on air
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You're listening to a podcast from News Talks EDB follow
this and our wide range of podcasts now on iHeartRadio.
This is Sportsfix Howard by News Talks.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
It be Hi, Welcome on Edded, a SPORTSFX podcast. I'm
Darcy order grave Head. It's a Wednesday, twenty fifth of
March twenty twenty six. Everything you need to know with
the wonderful wide world of sport here in New Zealand
is right up in front of you. Our feature interview
today is David Higgins. David has been a key driver
in sport tayment if you will. The biggest success he's
(00:43):
had is the Blackclash. That is of course T twenty cricket.
So will end ZED twenty pick up with only a
six month leading and what do they have to do
to ensure success? David joins us shortly. We'll be joined
in the chamber by Alex palms In on the Herald Scribe.
As we look at in z twenty now the dust
(01:05):
is settled and it looks like it's going ahead. Should right.
We'll also talk a week bit of Formula one because
you know it's Alex and Dusk and we love our
race cars. Liam Lawson Front Center in Japan this weekend. Hey,
thanks very much to all of a crew at GJ
Gardener Holmes, New Zealand's most trusted home builder, your continued
support of the Sports Fixed podcast. All right, strap in,
(01:29):
let's do it. In other news and in the Wonderment
of the Glory of Sports Today, Warriors conductor Andrew Webster
is convinced that the brand new and shiney Harves, pairing
a ton of Boyd and the returning Luke Metcalf will
bring fire to the turf on Friday Night as the
Tigers look to the rail the Penrose Juggernaut and even
(01:51):
with an unbeaten start to the season averaging forty points, again,
it's not our year yet.
Speaker 3 (01:57):
Call your Jetsna's getting a great job of putting his
five eight or his fullback in great position to execute football.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
And I think we'll be given Luke Metcalf a really
good opportunity to play, so they'll compliment.
Speaker 3 (02:09):
Each other well.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
Ben Wayne is really and willing to step into the
breach all the boots of Chris Wood. Wayne is the
man of the hour as would continues his recovery from
a knee injury and issue which just keep them out
of the All White squad for the upcoming friendlies against
Finland and Chile.
Speaker 4 (02:26):
If I'm called upon to do that, it's amazing And
obviously it's a shame that Chris isn't here because everyone
knows where he brings the side, So try and do
that position to justice as much as he can.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
And approche Is cricket coach knows that the current t
tweet series against the black Caps isn't all that the
players aren't the best their respective countries have to offer.
But a national cat is a national cap, says Shooky. Comrade,
whether these fully fled international kick I think.
Speaker 5 (02:54):
The juris are in that and many people will have
the opinions on it.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
But as soon as you pull on that dirtieth.
Speaker 5 (02:59):
Jumper and I'm sure the same for the key reason
you represent your country and you've got to try and
make them run.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
Both league football and cricket. Tastey Morsels from Sport Today.
Speaker 1 (03:10):
News and Avidian It's Sportsfix with Darcy Valdegreve.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
We'll join now in the Sportsvex podcast by David Higgins.
He's the man behind at Duco Events have been responsible
for some of the biggest sporttainment events in New Zeiland
over the last ten years, including the Auckland Nines at
Rugby League and of course the hugely successful Black Clash
which involves T twenty cricket. He joins us now to
(03:37):
discuss the future and what will make the n Z
twenty league actually work. Hi David, Hi, Darcy be on
the show and great to be talking to you as well.
The first person that's sprang to mind when the en
Z twenty you got almost rubber stand. I mean there's
a bit of water to go under the bridge yet,
but essentially that's where T twenty is going domestically here
(03:57):
at New Zealand. I thought to myself, well, I know
who knows how to brought a good promotion together? Plainly
the Black Class has worked particularly well, and you've been
involved in a number of other promotions, some entertainments around sports.
So I thought I'll ask you what the best way
to go with this is. These are exciting times. What
do you think is the best direction David, that this
(04:17):
competition could take.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
Well, I think it's very exciting for the sport of
cricket in New Zealand. This development. I mean we've had
experience taking a new sport and concept from an idea
on a whiteboard to a commercial reality more than once.
An example is the nrl Auckland Nines, which did start
on a whiteboard and sold out Eden Park four years
(04:40):
in a row, and then also Black Clash, Hot Spring Spars.
Black Class you mentioned earlier, is into its ninth year
as the number one rated sports event on New Zealand TV.
It has the most viewers for eight of the nine years,
so you know, from that perspective, I've got some experience
to comment without being an insider on the new direction
(05:02):
for cricket. Why are it's exciting is they've opted to
go all in on New Zealand having its own tournament,
its own rights, and being in control rather than being
at the behest of Australia, which I think the other
proposal involved teams in the Australian League, which is obviously
(05:24):
what rugby league do with the Warriors and some other sports.
But I think this cricket way, if it's done right,
could be immensely powerful for the growth of cricket in
New Zealand.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
What's the key what actually works in this? Do you
look toward looking after the pundas always talk about being
crowd centric. Do you have to get the best players,
the best venues that the location for these particular teams,
what do you think is there should be their primary
focus to pick this up make it run well.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
I think if you're looking very long term, the key
is to get the majority of young children watching cricket,
playing cricket, and excited about cricket. That's the long term
holy grail for any sport. And it takes a long
term view and a lot of them are short sighted.
And you think back to when there was no SkyTV
and no Internet, and rugby and cricket were on free
(06:18):
to air. We all grew up on watching on TV
one or TV two. I think that this has the
potential to go back to that where and the key
to its money where if this new cricket league is
so well financed and has so much money in the
bank at the get go, it can afford to put
its product on free to air and not many, not
(06:40):
every household has Sky or the Internet. And if that happens,
you'll get kids watching cricket after school and playing cricket,
poor kids as well, not just rich kids, because everyone's
got free to air and that will have a very
subtle gradual growth of the game where I could see
cricket becoming the number one sport like it is in India.
(07:01):
And obviously, if your products free to air, you can't
budget much for broadcast revenue. But if you're very well
funded and financed and set up, that's less of an issue,
so you can afford to take that long term view.
And from what I've heard, there's some serious money behind
the league and there could also be some serious money
(07:22):
behind the franchises and across the board. And then you
just need star players. So if you're on free air,
and I'm not saying they will be, but if they
are and you've got star players, and then you've got
kids and teenagers getting into it, you're in ten twenty
years time you'll be the biggest sport in New Zealand
by country mile. And you know, rugby union over the
(07:46):
last forty years has sort of gone the other way.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
When you try and drive exel warm props is what
we call them in film industry, but people actually to
the ground. What have you found that's worked for you?
How do you actually get the bums on the seats
physically to these events?
Speaker 3 (08:05):
Well, it's start so you need stars, start players, and
it needs to be entertaining. The thing about T twenty cricket,
it is entertaining. I mean, look at baseball in the
United States. It's kind of it's got an advantage over
maybe the footy codes and that there's no physical not
as much physical danger. Like kids of all shapes and
(08:27):
sizes can play cricket without mummy worried they're going to
get smashed by prop and it's nice weather and some
it's more of a summer sport, and so I think
it's got the potential to be very very popular. Thing
like baseball in the US. The T twenty is quite fast.
Obviously crick connoisseurs love test cricket. I used to like
(08:49):
watching test cricket, but the T twenty game is a
lot more accessible with sixers hit and speedball radars. So
I think obviously everything has a honeymoon period or starting out,
But if you've got the mix of star knowing players
from the Black Caps or what of involved in maybe
some international with say math, viewership accessible to all kids,
(09:13):
not just kids with sky, and I think then there's
a recipe for it to develop a fan following.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
Dissecting the sporting agenda. It's Sportsfex with Dancy.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
Waldgrave Metcalfe is back. That is the big news out
of the Warriors. He was named in the thirteen yesterday
for Friday's match up against the West Tigers, to be
played at Mountain Smart the Go Media Stadium. This is
huge for the side. It adds to the layers of
intensity this team has developed over the last three weeks.
(09:52):
Only makes perfect sense to me to stick them in
the sixth jumper and combine them with Tanner Boyd. And
I don't believe anybody unless they're absolutely hardcore or liars,
could have predicted how good Tanner Boyd would be in
the first three games of the season. So you can't
unseat them. And that's the problem. Some coaches have too
(10:13):
many good players not enough positions, and what a wonderful
problem that is to have. The other problem they have,
if you can call it a problem, is Mitch Barnett
and what to do with the skipper, the outgoing skipper.
I fully applaud Andrew Webster, even though this may change
by the time they start playing on Friday nights, because
(10:34):
that's what normally happens of the NRL. I like Mitch
from the bench. What they have to be cognizant of
is the effect that this guy has on the team
from the exterior and on the interior. But knowing that
the end of the year he is leaving, they need
to use this time to blood and bed in more
front rowers. Look, they were doing that last year, but
(10:57):
now they've got the perfect runway if you will, to
bring that next generation of front rowers and edge players through.
It is an ideal opportunity. Andrew Webster has got some issues,
if you will, but the wonderful issues to have. And
before we start saying it's our year, I've told you
this once and I'll keep telling it to the end
(11:18):
of the year. It's not anyone's year until they reach
the final and then we'll see. Remember it is the NRL.
Anything can happen, and more often than not it does.
Speaker 5 (11:30):
The Chamber is now in session on Sportsfix and the
chamber doors are rich to Sunday and beyond said doors
from the New Zealand held NZ to heerld dot Co
dot nza's ascribe, Alex Powell oves as race cars.
Speaker 2 (11:43):
He's been writing EPs around en Zeda twenty so he
seems like the perfect person to come on down. Good
eight lex Acident.
Speaker 5 (11:51):
How are you?
Speaker 2 (11:52):
Yeah, very well, great to have you in here. Let's
start things off with the n Z twenty. You've been
following this around like a bad smell for months and
months and months and months, but it's an intriguing story.
Essentially it's going ahead. I say essentially it's in principle
only what has to happen now so we know this
is actually going to bid down come what January.
Speaker 4 (12:15):
The important thing from here is that it gets the
license from New Zealand Cricket. So New Zealand Cricket has
given the green light that this is the option they
want to pursue, which I feel like is the right
one compared to the entry into the Big Bash. But
now there are a few hurdles that NZ twenty has
to jump over to convince New Zealand Cricket. One will
roll around the ownership stake. So initially the proposal was
that New Zealand Cricket would not own any part of
(12:37):
NZ twenty. Now it feels like that is on the
table to get it.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
Out of the line.
Speaker 4 (12:41):
The big one is around what happens to the women's game,
and we know that NZ twenty will have a woman's
competition at some point. We don't know what shape that
will take. Will it mirror the men's competition, will it
be different? Franchise owners so like, these are all things
that have to be worked out, but I guess the
key thing is that they are very able to be
worked out in time.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
So involvement or engagement with the New Zealand Cricket within
something that is essentially a private league. There's fish looks
all through that isn't there.
Speaker 4 (13:10):
Well, I mean that's the key thing to take on
here is what ZI twenty are aiming to do ZI
cricket ownership or not, it's nothing that hasn't been done
successfully somewhere else in the world. You know New Zealand Cricket,
Oh sorry, cricket in New Zealand being the last ones
too have a franchise league means they do actually have
a really good understanding of what does and doesn't work
(13:31):
everywhere else around the world. So you go somewhere like
the West Indies Cricket. West Indies owns none of the
Caribbean Premier League. What they do is they have a
license and then that is sold back to them you know,
so if that's the model that.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
So they can't meddle. Basically is we don't want them
in the Midland game. We don't want that, we don't
want this. They just want to cut exxtently.
Speaker 4 (13:49):
I mean, these are things that have to be worked out.
If New Zealand Cricket wants to have some sort of
governance role, then that'll be on the table. If they
just want ownership and they're for the money that comes
with it, that'll be on the table. But these are
conversations that are ongoing the.
Speaker 2 (14:02):
Women's side of it, and we've seen that the WBL
has been successful and women's cricket is still the only
growth area it really is accelerating. That won't be something
that could fold this. It's a timing situation. Is it immediate?
Is it the season after? Once they're bettered in what
happens with the bloke? So how does that go?
Speaker 4 (14:22):
So if all goes to plan, the intended launchers will
be January twenty twenty seven for the men's competition and
December twenty twenty seven for the women's I mean, these
things are subject to change. There has still a lot
of water to go under the bridge. I wrote in
The Herald last week after speaking to Sophie Divine and
Susie Bates, that this competition is ugly more important for
the women than it.
Speaker 2 (14:40):
Is for the men.
Speaker 4 (14:40):
You know, men's franchise leagues are a dime a dozen.
You go anywhere in the world cricket wise, there is
probably a franchise league, with the exception of New Zeland,
the women's league, sorry, the women's game. At the moment
there are only four operating franchise league. It's got India, Australia,
England and the Caribbean. There's one more little launch next
month in Bangladesh. But five franchise leagues is not enough
(15:02):
to grow the sport. You know, we've seen the interest
in the women's game. You've seen the World Cup last
year which India won. That will be huge India behind it.
But it's time that New Zealand does have a slice
of the pie in that regards. You look at the
white fans playing Socket's only really Sophie Divine and Amelia
occur that get these opportunities regularly. Susie Bates will get
the odd gurg let to who will get the odd
(15:22):
gig and that will continue to improve, but having opportunity
for every single female cricketer in this country to play
at a professional level at home, because let's not forget
domestic cricket here is still largely semi professional. They are
not contracted around men and women and I think that
is rightly a priority for New Zealand cricket.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
The timing is more than interesting. It's a short runway.
Can they get it done because they've got to organized finance,
they've got an organized structure, they've got to get the
players that everything. It's not a lot of time. Is
that a risk? It's not.
Speaker 4 (15:57):
They do have what Don McKinnon, the establishing Committee chair,
described as a backup of a January twenty eight launch.
They will want to be January twenty seven to make
sure there is some form of domestic cricket in New
Zee over the next summer. But you're right, they do
not have a lot of time. And I mean it
just comes down to do they have the right people
in charge?
Speaker 2 (16:16):
Do they?
Speaker 4 (16:16):
I think they do right. I think there are some
very clever people involved in this. You look at Don McKinnon,
he's in a mug. David Hollman along the same lines.
You look at Stephen Fleming, Dan Vattory. I understand perhaps
Brenda McCullum might also be involved in some re good.
These guys know how franchise cricket works. You know. Heath Mills,
the head of the Players Association, has really been a
(16:37):
big driver of this. He's not an idiot, so you
really have to just back who's in charge now. But
you do need that sort of green light from newsand
Cricket to just go.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
And when they can, then they can start getting the
money on board, which I'm presuming they've already got money,
it's just not being promised. They've got to work out
the structure. They've got to work out where the franchise
is going to be based, who's going to bid for
the franchisees? How there is too much work to do.
There's a lot of it going on.
Speaker 4 (17:05):
I wouldn't say too much. I think this is doable.
You know, a nine months we've seen franchise leagues pop
up in the USA and in Canada and Nepal. Like
the cricket infrastructure that is in place in New Zealand
is already here, you know, so let's not take that away.
But if investors are willing to go to Canada and
invest in franchise like they will be willing to come
to New Zealand. Like we don't really have a grasp
(17:26):
of how highly regarded New Zealand cricket is around the world.
Speaker 2 (17:29):
You know.
Speaker 4 (17:30):
You look at the Black fer and the Black Fans,
the Black Caps and the White Ferns performing in tournaments
year and year out. You know that does reflect really
well on New Zealand cricket, you know, and does make
it a good proposition. But also the way that New
Zealand law is for investing in things, like we're a
very clean country in that regard like it is. You know,
you look at what Bill Foley was able to bring
(17:51):
overseas money into to found Auckland FC. You know there
are examples of this working both in New Zealand with
sport and around the world with cricket.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
The asterisk is around Bill Foley. As he said he's
going to build a new stadium. I said, bro, you
haven't dealt with the Auckland Council yet, good lacks, I
get things done. So what happened to that stadium?
Speaker 4 (18:11):
Like I think it's another podcast in itself.
Speaker 2 (18:13):
It is, Hey, let's just have a quick tickle around
Formula one. Back to one of the one of the
great tracks, Suzuka. What a place that is going to
be another test for these brand new cars. About a
couple of weeks to get the Phillips screwdrivers out and
the lumphammers and see what they can do to these cars.
What are we expecting.
Speaker 4 (18:31):
I'm hoping that we'll see some overtaking, you know, because
that has been a big driver towards what these new
regulations are about getting competitive racing. Suzuka is not a
great track for overtaking in past. There is only one
sort of DRS overtaking zone. Of course, they're not using
the DRS anymore. You have overtake mode, which is different.
But let's now actually see if the rubber hits the
(18:54):
road in that regard.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
At this circuit, these drivers and these teams, they will
be a lot more comfortable with what the cars can do,
what their limits are as well. So we're going to
see water finding its level.
Speaker 4 (19:08):
I don't think comfortable is the right word. I think
ha ha.
Speaker 2 (19:12):
I think they know a bit more about the cars.
Speaker 4 (19:14):
I think they're more familiar you go, but there is
still a lot of issues with these cars. You know,
we've seen Adrian Newey over the last week's step aside,
like Adrian Newey is a genius and he's.
Speaker 2 (19:24):
Adrian Newey was never going to be a principle of
a Formula One team. Too much politics, too much to death.
He just wants to build cars. It's a geek.
Speaker 4 (19:32):
But now he has the runway to do that. I
keep using runway in this podcast. He's decided he needs
to divert himself completely into how that Aston Martin Carr
is going to go. So we're seeing actually the demands
on these teams now and after that nothing five weeks off.
Speaker 2 (19:47):
What are they going to do with the five weeks?
They going to carry on tinkering? Where do they tinker?
They've got test tracks? Are there limitations around this? Of course,
ladies and gentlemens, because Donald Trump started a war in
the Middle East and people can't go there and race
cars anymore.
Speaker 4 (20:03):
Right, No, So Bahrain and Saudi two races that I
quite like. I quite like Bahrain as a track. Saudi
might be a bit too quick for me, but they're
both gone from the calendar, so it's only gonna be
a twenty two race season, which I mean you think
back to what a few years ago, and it was
sort of nineteen twenty races and that was a lot,
and now twenty four is the minimum. It's like, oh,
we only get twenty two. What are these teams going
to do in five weeks? How much can they do?
(20:25):
I mean, I'm sure they'll be allowed to work on
their cast because it's in the season, but how much
can you actually achieve without proper opportunity to test on
a race course? Like we saw these teams all turn
up in Melbourne confidence what they had because you know,
they've done the simulator work and they've done testing, and
then once the season actually began, we saw who actually
was out in front and who was, in Aston Martin's case,
really far behind.
Speaker 2 (20:45):
Thank you very much Alex Powell for joining us here
in the chamber. You best get on and write some
more words.
Speaker 1 (20:50):
Leading a vix. We've got just the ticket. It's Sports
Fix how by News Talks IVY And that was.
Speaker 2 (20:56):
The Sports Fix podcast for a Wednesday, twenty fifth of
March twenty twenty sixty. J Gardner Homes New Zealand's most
trusted home builder. Thanks very much for supporting the show.
If you've enjoy what you've heard, tell your friends and
family and anybody you care to, and get them to subscribe,
which you should as well. That way, this automatically turns
(21:17):
up in your inbox on a week daily basis. If
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(21:41):
tell your mates and enjoy. We'll catch you again tomorrow
here on the Fix.
Speaker 1 (21:47):
For more from News Talk ZEDB. Listen live on air
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