Mashi

Chris Martin was just nicking people out left, right and centre.

So early 2000s?

Yeah, the 2004, sound familiar?

At Eden Park.

Yeah, it was one of the great, we won the series.

I don't know if I should tell my boring South African story because I didn't get hauled over the coals or kicked out of the commentary booth, but I remember covering the test and I went up and ended up in their...

their sort of pavilion waiting room before they went out to bat and I went oh shit and they went no no you're fine and they were like happy to chat and I was talking to Herschel Gibbs and he was kind of not next in but the next next in and I was talking about how quick he was because he was a rugby player and blah blah blah I said are you the fastest in the team and he said oh yeah I reckon and then Sean Pollock pipes up and goes no fucking way it's me and he goes not over classic fiery ginger yeah exactly not over 50 he goes yeah but over

He goes, I was a 200-meter champion for Western Province or some bloody, you know, PAL or grey or whatever.

And then another voice pipes up, the person, the batter who's waiting to go in, and it's old Hansi Kronje.

Oh, wow.

Hansi.

And so Hansi Kronje goes, hold on a second.

What distance are we talking?

Because he used to run against Zola Budd, the long distance with the bare feet.

And he apparently, so they worked out to, because they're all so competitive, that it was Herschel over the short distance, Pollock over the 200, and then anything over 400 was Hansi.

Oh.

Yeah.

Did they actually prove it though?

Well, they just said in terms of their records, they're quite happy to quote all their stats.

They flopped it out, basically.