Auckland coach Mark O'Donnell could not be more aware of the differences between his home of 17 years in South Africa, and his new home in New Zealand.

For a start there's the rain. Auckland welcomed him with 12 days in a row, which was only a fraction of the true amount the Queen City endured.

But that rain highlighted one adaptation O'Donnell, 40 and originally from Christchurch, is going to have to make.

Most of his pre-season work with the Auckland side is going to have to be done indoors.

The days of doing all the winter and pre-season training outdoors on grass pitches in South Africa are gone.

O'Donnell meets with the Auckland squad for the first time this evening, although he has met with most of the individuals who made up the inaugural winners of the State Championship last season, on a one-on-one basis.

His return to New Zealand completes a cycle which saw him move to Eastern Province where fellow New Zealander David Trist had taken on a coaching role. O'Donnell, who played cricket for Burnside West in the Christchurch competition, had gone to England the winter before and had met up with Trist in the Netherlands.

Trist encouraged him to try his luck in South Africa, and having done that, O'Donnell married a South African and ended up staying, initially with Eastern Province but latterly for Gauteng.

His experiences have been mixed.

From the earliest years he was there, South Africa was still in isolation due to the apartheid policies of the National Government. Because of that he was able to witness and experience the incredible strength of club and first-class cricket.

International players playing at those levels was a rarity in the rest of the cricket world, and since the re-entry into the normal realm of things in 1992, it has also become a rarity in South Africa.

However, normalisation in sport has brought its own problems and it has been especially severe on the administration of the game.

O'Donnell reflected on how easily a very strong structure in Gauteng had fallen apart as the results of inefficiencies in administration and pressures of advancement of black players had taken their toll.

Gauteng had won the South African championship in 2000 in spite of the administrative collapse the side endured. Six of the side departed, only one of them - Ken Rutherford - to retirement, before the start of the next season.

O'Donnell said there was a problem that was symptomatic with the next generation of South African players. Because so many of them now hold European Union passports they are transferring their playing allegiances to Europe, in the same way that rugby players have done.

"They are getting out because they can earn more money and they are out of the political problems," he said.

Maintaining the strength of the side of the moment is going to be the real challenge for South Africa, he said.

The transformation process would work eventually in South Africa, but it would take time, he said.

Bowlers would come through the system quicker, and that has already been seen, but it would be tougher for batsmen to emerge and they would take longer.

The situation was not helped by the system at the moment which has lowered the standard of first-class cricket by promoting players of colour ahead of players who are better skilled. It was difficult all round because the players knew themselves there were better players, while it was some of these players in the second-tier of the game who were seeking their opportunities elsewhere.

"I am looking forward to working with Auckland. I can concentrate on actual cricket decisions. I wasn't able to have a balanced side over the last five years," he said.

O'Donnell, who was last in Auckland in 1981, couldn't help but notice the changes in the city, even at Eden Park where the only familiar sight was the terracing at the eastern end of the ground.

"But it has been useful being here at this time because I attended a Level III coaching workshop in Christchurch and met quite of a few of the guys and was able to make some observations, and there has been a coaching programme in Auckland this week.

"The competition involves about the same amount of cricket as South Africa, although the difference here is that it is squeezed into a much tighter time frame.

"That puts demands on strength and skills of players in the squad and those just beneath them because you are only as good as your support players," he said.

"There are some very talented cricketers here and the talent is similar to South Africa although the average age of players is younger here. Clearly it is a lot harder to live on earnings as a first-class cricketer here," he said.

Each of the 11 first-class sides in South Africa has 17 contracted players.

The latest phase of his coaching career will provide different challenges for O'Donnell. The lack of hard, fast tracks in the early part of the summer requires different thinking while there is that concentration of play which can be just as demanding organisation-wise as the playing out in the middle.

© CricInfo