Tony Sail, the Auckland cricket coach, has got the message that the 2001/02 season must produce better results than last summer - and Sail will be passing a similar warning to his representative squad.

Auckland did not win any of the big three titles last season, and the widely-fluctuating form late in the summer meant that Sail, the coach, and Blair Pocock, who started last season as captain, might lose the team leadership.

However, Pocock retired and is now working in Australia, and Sail's review report to the Auckland Cricket Association gave him enough brownie points to stay ahead of the challengers, of whom Alan Hunt, the former Auckland batsman, was a most interesting prospect.

Sail said yesterday that he was putting together new plans for next season - "I was disappointed with last season's results" - but was conscious that 2001/02 might become an Auckland coach's headache.

"We have lost Blair Pocock. Dion Nash finished up as captain, but he may be involved in international play."

Last summer Adam Parore was the only Aucklander consistently involved with the New Zealand team.

"Now we will probably have Parore, Dion Nash, Lou Vincent and, after his good form at Sharjah, Kyle Mills, away with New Zealand."

Not forgetting Andre Adams and Tama Canning as one-day dashers.

Sail is looking for a season that will have Cricket Max as a November starter - provided New Zealand Cricket are keen to carry on with last summer's format - with Shell Trophy having three or four games before Christmas. The Shell Cup will have its usual December-January schedule, the rest of the home-and-away Trophy matches will follow on, and the whisper is that Auckland might have a rare first class match against an international side - in this case Bangladesh.

Sail is resigned to being without the Auckland international players to the pre-Christmas tours to Pakistan and Australia, the Carlton Series in Australia in January, and during the England tour here in February-March. In the meantime Sail is leading the way with a development scheme which might bring Auckland profit four or five years down the track.

Sail has become cricket development man for Mt Albert Grammar School.

Tony Blain is filling the same role with Auckland Grammar and Jeremy Coney has coaching plans for St Kentigern College. Auckland cricket used to rely in the 50's for a crop of top players from Mt Albert Grammar, and during the 50's and 60's Auckland Grammar was a prolific cricketing nursery.

Sail has been delighted to find the boys reacting well to his coaching.

"As an exercise I got the younger players to write a history of MAGS cricket," said Sail.

"They were quite surprised at how strong MAGS had been at cricket. Mt Albert won ten of the first 14 Auckland championships. An Auckland touring team in 1957 had five MAGS men in it.

"Now Mt Albert has got a young group of 22 players who are absolutely passionate about cricket, and a strong senior group above them."

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