Jimmy Neesham arrived in Toronto on Monday from the UK and is set to play in the Global T20 Canada getting under way just outside the city. The New Zealand all-rounder hasn’t been home since that fateful day a couple of weeks ago in the World Cup final at Lord’s.
“Yeah, I stayed in England for a little bit post-tournament and went up to Liverpool to see the netball girls play their World Cup,” Neesham says. “They actually won. I share a flat with one of the girls – Bailey Mes in that team – so at least we average 0.5 of a World Cup over the winter. The flat is pretty happy.”
He may be intense on the field, but Neesham in person is calm, personable and very funny. He looks every bit the man for a crisis. And there was something of a crisis that Neesham was asked to solve in those tense final moments at Lord’s.
While the rest of the cricket world was on the edge of its seat, biting nails or screaming at the TV, Neesham was strolling out to the pitch with his good friend Martin Guptill to face the small matter of a super-over and winning New Zealand a first Cricket World Cup. Was he nervous? No. Well, why the heck not?
“It’s something I’ve done a lot of work on,” he says. “When I first came into international cricket, I sort of feared those big moments. It gets conditioned into you as a sportsman that these moments are so important and you’ll feel pressure, and you’ll be nervous.
“I think what I’ve done while I was away from the game is that I’ve changed my relationship with moments like that to a relationship of enjoyment.
“Guppy [Guptill] and I sat on the sidelines before we went out for the super-over and we actually played club cricket together in Auckland in about 2009, before I left to go to Otago.
“I turned to him and said ‘From batting together at Ken Maunder Park 2009, to a World Cup final at Lord’s – how good is this?’ And we had a little laugh and walked out.
“So I wasn’t nervous at all. It was a feeling of excitement and possibilities. The cards didn’t fall our way that day, but I’m still very proud of how we went out and took the game on and maybe in four years’ time, it will be different.”
For all his good humour and stoicism, it is clear that the result of the World Cup hit Neesham quite hard. Shortly after the match he tweeted, “Kids, don’t take up sport. Take up baking or something. Die at 60, really fat and happy”.
Asked about it, he says, “The feelings were obviously still fresh and it was bit of an attempt from me to find a bit of humour in the situation. It was sort of a pretty dire moment there for a while.
“The game we play has very high highs and very low lows and you try to ride the rollercoaster as best you can and sometimes, through no fault of your own, you find yourself on the negative side.
“I wouldn’t recommend taking up baking to all the children unless they want to. I’d certainly recommend taking up sport to all the youngsters. I take that tweet back!
“I don’t think I will ever not think about that match. It’s one of those things that does stay with you. [Captain] Kane [Williamson] explained it quite well, that it comes at you in waves, that you forget about it for a while and all of a sudden something sets you off.”
Neesham’s World Cup exploits have made him a hero to millions in the cricket world, but the all-rounder claims not to have had any of his own when growing up.
“I’m not really about that. You obviously watch people on TV and watch people play, but I was never the guy who imitated people’s bowling actions in the backyard.
“People in the backyard no doubt at the moment will be batting like Kane Williamson and bowling like Trent Boult, and maybe if their older brother forces them to both bowl and bat, my name might come out every now and then.”
For the Global T20 Canada in the city of Brampton, a drop-in pitch has been laid at the the 5,000-capacity CAA Centre which will host the league, which began on Thursday and goes until 11 August.
It’s not the pressure-cooker of a World Cup final at Lord’s, but that suits Neesham just fine right now. It helps that there are familiar faces around, including no less a person than former Black Caps captain Brendon McCullum, who will be playing in the potentially triggering blue uniform of the Toronto Nationals.
Neesham’s team is the Edmonton Royals, who play their first match on 27 July and are coached by another former Kiwi skipper, Stephen Fleming.
“I’m really looking forward to playing in Canada,” Neesham says. “Really excited to get involved under Stephen Fleming and [captain] Faf du Plessis – two guys I’ve had quite a lot to do with in the past and that I enjoy spending time with. I’m just looking forward to getting out on the field again and getting the monkey off my back.”
Neesham doesn’t see the need for any great mental adjustment going from a World Cup in England to a T20 tournament in Canada, and puts it down to how New Zealanders approach their cricket.
“Every game is the same. We prepare for each game as an individual event. We don’t pay a whole lot of attention to how much media is around a game or what [others’] expectations are. I just need to get momentum early and fit in with the Edmonton Royals team.”
