"We believe in starting cricket lessons at the age of five," Doig told Newsline, adding, "We have a special kit for them - plastic wickets, bat and ball. Every Saturday morning is cricket time for Kiwi kids."

The districts are a major proving ground and more than two dozen teams compete for the District Challenge Cup. New Zealand is not a big city kind of place, but places like Christchurch, Auckland and Wellington will have eight to ten teams each. "The best teams in both rural and urban categories qualify to play the Shell Trophy matches. Or the players compete in the under-19 tourneys," Doig explained. "We study the players competing for the Shell Trophy (four-day matches) and Shell Cup (one-dayers) and pick up our national players from that bunch, or sometimes directly from the Cricket Academy."

New Zealand's cricket academy is something he's proud of: "We have two full cricket grounds, an indoor centre for net practise, hotel-like independent accommodation for a batch of 14, all facilities to test and monitor the players' physical condition. Training is full time for eight months and that goes side by side with their university studies. Because of the academy, our fitness and nutrition levels are very high."

Now, who's heard of "Super Cricket Mix"? Well, it's the latest recipe in cricket, invented by the Australian and New Zealand boards. Like Test cricket, each team gets two innings of ten overs, generally lasting about three-hours. The International Cricket Council has adopted it as a "third generation game" and Doig is keen to have Kiwis put on an SCM exhibition match here to popularise the concept.

Now here comes a surprise: Doig was a professional singer for 25 years and what he sang was opera that's the western equivalent of our classical vocal music. He worked for the best: the Vienna State Opera, Australian Opera and other companies. "The Chief Executive job offer came along four years ago when I was still singing in operas. How an opera singer qualifies as a cricket boss? Because I had played senior grade cricket. I still sing -- one odd show a year. Wait and see, I might get back into singing."

`Test cricket is dying' Morrisontoo barredimmediately
How does Kiwis ex-fast bowler Danny Morrison feel about being here? "Great! I love the Indian climate, I love the food, I love the people." He can't imagine life without cricket -- maybe playing, maybe giving commentary. "It's my passion," he declares adding: "Difficult to keep up with family life though ... but I manage." He sticks close to home most of the time "so I can keep my family with me".

Morrison is convinced that Test cricket is dying. "I say make Test cricket cheap -- Rs 5 a ticket. Give the common man a chance to watch his heroes play."