INTERVIEW
Follow UsAs someone who is a T20 veteran, what are your thoughts on T10 as a format? You’ve now got a good taste of T10 cricket, having played in three different competitions, most recently the Zim Afro T10!
The future is bright for T10 cricket. I feel it’s the fastest-growing format in our sport. It’s great to try to introduce cricket to new players, new teams, and new countries by playing shorter formats like this.
I find it a really tricky format to play because it’s rocks and diamonds — you either perform really well or you don’t. It’ll test your emotions, especially if you’re a younger person who wants to perform and do well. But an older guy like me that’s been around a fair bit, you just gotta try and stay as level as you can throughout the tournament and hopefully get one or two good scores.
But T10 as a format is definitely growing. More and more T10 tournaments are popping up and that’s exciting for cricket. Zim Afro T10, for instance, is great for Zimbabwe cricket. The tournament is only going to get bigger and stronger the more it carries on.
Cricket, as a sport, has been evolving rapidly over the last few years. With T20 taking precedence over other formats, do you feel that we’ll see a drastic change at the grassroots level going forward? In terms of what the kids are taught, what’s considered ‘acceptable’ and so on?
When you go down to the nets where I’m from, there are kids trying to play ramp shots, reverse sweeps, and hitting the ball over the top all the time. Five or six years ago, this wasn’t the case. It was just their parents throwing the ball to the kids, who would try to perfect their technique and play textbook cover drives and straight drives.
I feel once you can hit the ball, you can go back and work on your technique, but once you’re stuck in playing with a straight bat, it’s harder to swing the bat, especially if you’ve been doing it for two to three years. I say just give youngsters a bat and just get them to hit the ball naturally. You can start working on the other things once they start swinging the bat.
You’ve been a T20 globetrotter for over half a decade now. Particularly after giving up T20Is four years ago, you’ve been travelling non-stop, playing across the globe week in and week out. Everyone talks about the money but just how taxing is it to be a T20 freelancer?
I’m just fortunate that I’m a batter. I can take a month, two months off and bat a week or two before the tournament and sort of get back [to rhythm]. I’ve talked to some of the bowlers and they’ve told me how tough they find jumping from one tournament to another. Because they have to keep their bowling load up and have their body right all the time, as a batter, you can sort of have those lull periods in terms of your physical fitness, but if you’re a bowler, it’s tough to get back and bowl again.
So, T20 freelancing is easier as a batter than a bowler, but it’s still relatively tough because you’re playing day in and day out. Since you’re jumping between tournaments regularly, you can lose strength and your fitness there, but it’s what you do in your downtime when you get back home that really counts.
That’s one thing I pride myself on now. I might not be as physically fit and strong as I was, but I’m still getting there and doing what I need to do to be ready for the next competition.
Speaking of franchise cricket, there’s been a mass exodus in New Zealand with regard to players declining central contracts. Not only the older guys but you’ve got youngsters like Finn Allen who have declined a central contract in order to go the franchise route. What are your thoughts on the situation back home?
Go for it; that’s all I’d say to these players. I wasn’t offered a contract, and I went, and because of that, I had a black mark next to my name in terms of not playing for New Zealand again. But if you have an opportunity to go and earn some money, do it.
Our careers don’t last forever. It’s not like golf, where we can do a legends tour afterwards and keep playing until you’re 60 and earn good money. We, as cricketers, have a shelf life where our career ends in the late 30s and early 40s. After that, you’ve gotta go back to working a regular job, probably.
How risky is it to go the franchise route, though? Based on your own experience, would you give any advice to these players?
Once I was done with international cricket, I went through a phase where I just tried to play for the money. My performances went down because that [earning money] was all I focused on. When I refocused and decided to enjoy cricket again and play for the right reasons, my performance got better.
That’s one advice I have for young players or even guys towards the back end of their careers: make sure you’re playing the game for the right reasons.
Yes, you want to make a good amount of money to set your family up, but if you’re playing just for the money, you’re not going to enjoy it as much. So enjoy it for what it is; it’s not going to last forever. Just ensure that you’re doing it with a smile on your face.
All through your career, you’ve been a batter who’s been fearless and selfless. But there were times in your international career where you were branded ‘reckless’, particularly in ODIs. As an inherently aggressive batter, did you ever find it difficult to strike the right balance in terms of your pace/approach?
At the start of my career, when I was playing for New Zealand, I had the license and role to just go out there and be aggressive. That’s probably one of the reasons why my ODI record was not as good as it could have been or should have been. I was probably looking to be a bit too aggressive. But that was my role, and I was prepared to do what benefited the team.
If you look at my T20I record for New Zealand, my strike rate was around 140-150 and then for Trinidad in the CPL, my strike rate was down at 128-130 because that’s what the team needed me to do.
It’s not about personal performance; it’s about what the team needs. That’s what playing under Brendon McCullum taught me. If you’re out there in a pressure situation, just ask yourself what your team needs from you at that specific time. If dancing down the track and trying to hit a six is the need, then it’s fine even if you get out. But if you’re looking to be too aggressive too soon and get out, you’ve wasted an opportunity to score.
If the team needs 12 runs an over and you’re going at six runs an over, then you’re not doing a great job for the team. You might get accolades for scoring runs and maintaining a certain average or whatever, but contributing towards the team’s victory is the main thing.
Let’s talk red-ball cricket. Most people know Colin Munro as a white-ball specialist, but you actually have an outrageous first-class record: an average of 52, a strike rate of 99 and 13 hundreds in 48 games. Yet despite racking up these numbers, you only played a solitary Test for New Zealand. Is there a part of you that wishes you got more opportunities in Tests?
100%. I’m not going to say I regret anything but I do wish that I played some more Test cricket. To get one Test in South Africa against *that* bowling attack — Steyn & Morkel — and to be put on the bench after that and say, ‘Sorry, we’re not going to pick you because you can’t play how you play at the first-class level in the Test arena’ was harsh.
I wish Bazball had come in earlier because maybe I would have batted at No.5 or No.6 for New Zealand for a few more Tests. That being said, if I had played more Tests, I probably wouldn’t have travelled the world like I have and got my family to see different parts of the world.
You spoke about T10 cricket being ‘tricky’ but you also said that you personally found red-ball cricket to be relatively easy. Could you elaborate?
Interestingly enough, I found four-day cricket the easiest. It was statistically my best format too. I saw a Travis Head interview the other day, and he said the same. You’re not under pressure to score all the time. It doesn’t matter when you come in; the cover is usually open, and you can exploit many other gaps and spaces as a batter.
I remember speaking to Rishabh Pant and he said he finds Test cricket easier because of the nature of not having to look to score. You’re always looking to score runs, but if somebody bowls well for a couple of overs, you can always give them respect and target the other lesser bowlers. Whereas in T20 cricket, it’s tough because you get judged on your strike rate; you’ve got to look to score all the time.
It’s especially harder in T20s these days. In the initial days, you had the cushion to soak up pressure and then accelerate, but these days, you’ve got to get 180/190/200 on the board in order to win.
‘Coach Colin Munro’ has a nice ring to it. You’ve made it clear that you want to play for at least another couple of years, but have you thought about delving into the coaching world after retirement?
I would love to stay in cricket, but I also look around and see what sorts of players get jobs, and it’s the big names. You look at the IPL, for instance, it’s the big names that are getting coaching gigs. And I don’t see myself in that category. But I’ve got the ability to connect with people and make sure that I can get the best out of people. So, if I get an opportunity to stay in cricket and do some coaching, I’d love to do it.
I don’t think I’d like to be a head coach straightaway. I’d prefer more of a mentoring role where I can help out other players. I’ve had a lot of ups and downs in my career, and I’ve dealt with a lot of stuff. If I can help a couple of players navigate their journey smoother than I did, then I’ve done a good job.
Let’s say you get bored of coaching. What, then, for Colin Munro outside of cricket?
I'm not exactly sure. I haven’t looked that far ahead, but I know I have to start looking there (laughs). I wanted to be a teacher, but I don’t think that’s on the cards anymore. Maybe I can be an account manager or something so that I can look after some accounts, take people out for lunch, and talk about cricket there.
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