Shining above all else in New Zealand's 2002 of cricket had to be Nathan Astle's world record for the fastest double century in Test history.

The 153 balls of mayhem at Jade Stadium in a glorious innings was a sight to behold.

The naysayers will dismiss it as failing to produce a win, and certainly that would have made it all the more impressive. But it was impressive enough as it stood. They would also say that he had a degree of freedom to hit out because the game was lost anyway.

To deny the magnificence of Astle's achievement is to deny everything that appeals about Test cricket.

This is a game with so many different points for fans to enjoy. And over the years, New Zealanders when they haven't had their own team to support have been able to enjoy the skills of visiting players.

So when one of their own turns it on they are entitled to bask in it.

To see seasoned internationals, several of them English, shaking their heads in wonderment at Astle's hitting was testimony enough to what he achieved.

It was phenomenal.

Astle has said himself that he may never do it again. But for those who were there it was something never to be forgotten.

There was a smidgeon of repetition in Auckland, as New Zealand chased quick runs in the third Test against England, runs that would ultimately see New Zealand home to a series-drawing victory.

Cruelly robbed of their two most potent bowling forces, Shane Bond, who was injured in the VB Series in Australia, and Chris Cairns, who broke down with another knee injury on the first day of the first Test, New Zealand did remarkably well to come back and draw the series.

And if Astle was the batsman to most catch the eye with his performance then the bowler who made everyone sit up and appreciate him as a fully-fledged international player was Daryl Tuffey. It was his bowling in Auckland that set up the win over England, while in the latter part of the year, he presented himself in superb form for the series against India.

Again there could be criticism that anyone could have bowled well in the conditions provided for the two Tests, but Tuffey, who has never enjoyed a reputation for being in best form at the start of a season, was able to take advantage of the conditions and then continue that into the one-day series.

All that is needed to make him the complete bowler is to perform consistently well overseas, and that is a test all players must go through.

Bond's arrival in Australia was acknowledged last summer, but in the meantime he has been the key factor in New Zealand achieving their first Test win, and series victory, in the West Indies. It is a little like taking coals to Newcastle, but fast bowler Bond out-did the West Indians in their home conditions and that had to be highly-satisfying in terms of the overall performances during the year.

So too, was the emergence of new players. Robbie Hart wasn't a fresh face on the first-class scene, but he proved yet another Kiwi tradesman who had served an over-long apprenticeship that stood him so well when his chance finally came. His efforts with the bat in the West Indies highlighted this and played a significant role in the series success.

Scott Styris too, came through in emphatic fashion to emulate the feat of Lou Vincent earlier in the summer of scoring a century and half-century on Test debut, while he backed that with a New Zealand record for wickets taken in a One-Day International by taking six for 25 against the West Indies.

More recently, Jacob Oram showed just why he has been keenly awaited since returning from the injury that robbed him of most of last season. His bowling has developed to the point where can operate as a respectable first change bowler, while his batting can be fitted to the circumstances.

A free-hitting player, like so many from the Central Districts region in times past, he curbed his natural bent brilliantly to steer New Zealand to a second Test win over India and much greater things await him in the game.

Yet despite all the positives and good news that emanated from New Zealand's play this year, there was the worst Test performance of them all against Pakistan when Inzamam-ul-Haq scored a triple century and Shoaib Akhtar ripped through New Zealand's batting in such outstanding style.

There was too, the continued inability to develop a competitive one-day game plan. New Zealand's defence of its ICC KnockOut trophy, under the new guise of the ICC Champions Trophy, in Sri Lanka was limp, and it has to be wondered just how much all the Federation of International Cricketers' Associations activities that went on during the large amounts of free time the players had at the tournament detracted from New Zealand's performance.

It was soon apparent when the players returned home that they were in confrontational mood.

Yet their tactics in the contract dispute with New Zealand Cricket were so mis-directed that they were hard pushed to find a voice of support for their cause. Even the Council of Trade Unions couldn't get it right when coming out behind the players.

The players might well have had a case, but they presented it so poorly that they were never going to get what they wanted. There were some very dubious tactics during the whole exercise and the heavying of non-association members was not something that will shine brightly in the annals of the New Zealand Cricket Players' Association history.

But the most pathetic sight of the strike, and a sure signal that the Association advocates were grasping at straws, was the plaintive comment by advocate Rob Nichol as television frontman Paul Holmes was farewelling Martin Snedden and Nichol after a debate. Nichol's actions in offering belated condolences to the family of former first-class cricketer and Bali bomb blast victim Mark Parker reeked of desperation and insincerity and were a blight on his role in the whole episode.

Parker's memory deserved more respect than to be used as a vehicle for winning public support.

New Zealand's players were also caught in a bomb blast in Karachi when Al Qaeda's tentacles resulted in the death of 11 French engineers in a bus outside the New Zealand team's hotel.

The action in coming home immediately from Pakistan was yet another right decision made by Snedden in what has been a momentous 18 months since taking on his position as chief executive. New Zealand were decidedly lucky that more serious injury was not done to their players and it can only be wondered how long the psychological impact of that blast will live with the players.

Again some of the comments made by New Zealanders far removed from the war zone that the players found themselves in were again undeserving. To claim that the players needed to "toughen up" as some did because New Zealanders had seen plenty of that in wars forgot the fact that New Zealanders volunteered for war service and knew what they were potentially getting themselves in for.

That wasn't the case with a cricket team in Pakistan!

New Zealand cricket has been forced to grow up this year. Player politics are now part and parcel of the game. But those politics can never be allowed to interfere with the vital development side of the game that has seen players like: Bond, Oram, Tuffey, Styris, Vincent and Brendon McCullum emerge from the Academy system.

No review of the year could forget the staging of the Under-19 World Cup at Lincoln, another outstanding success of organisation for New Zealand Cricket and while the New Zealand team didn't achieve a win, there were enough encouraging players to emerge to ensure the production line is working well.

And the New Zealand women continued their development towards finding a side to defend their world title in 2005 in South Africa with an outstanding tour of Europe and England were they beat England and India in a tri-series.

The views expressed in this review of 2002 are not necessarily those of New Zealand Cricket.

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