Date-stamped : 05 Oct95 - 10:27 The Electronic Telegraph Friday 1 September 1995 Devon`s cream rises to the top Peter Deeley reports on the ambition that has made a Kiwi of Roger Twose WHEN Brian Lara arrived at Edgbaston last summer, he found a note pinned up in the dressing-room: "Welcome to the second best left-hander in the world." It did not take the West Indian long to discover the joker. In the first match of the season, against Glamorgan, Lara`s debut century was overshadowed - statistically if not in quality - by his partner in a double-century stand. Roger Twose, who does not lack self- confidence, batted for more than 10 hours, then a championship longest in- nings, for 277. It was the first time the Devonian had really come to the notice of a wider audience. His roots in the game are deep: his father and brother played for Devon, two uncles played for Leicestershire and one, Roger, went on to represent his country. Now Twose is a key part of the success- ful Warwickshire set-up - but not for much longer. By next month he will have begun a new life in New Zealand, immedi- ately setting off with their Test team on a tour of India. Besides his sharp humour (his entry in the Cricketers` Who`s Who reveals that he was born in Torquay "in a car") Twose is an example of a man who has expanded his horizons by application and hard work. For all his teasing of Lara, he has probably benefited, technical- ly and mentally, more than anyone in the Warwickshire side from the West Indian`s presence in 1994. He is the only Warwickshire player to have appeared in every com- petitive game to date - 81 first-class and one-day matches - during the past two seasons in which he has scored more than 3,800 runs in all competitions. Warwickshire will find it diffi- cult to fill his shoes next year, yet there was a time when a prosperous career in the first-class game, let alone Test status, seemed doubtful. The turning point came in New Zealand where the family has links Twose is what educationalists might term a slow developer. He joined Warwickshire from MCC`s ground staff in 1989 and spent three years serving an apprenticeship in the seconds. The turn- ing point came in New Zealand where the family have links. Twose first played there in 1989 and two years later, while playing for Central Districts, embarked on a stringent fitness regime - junk food out, high fibre diet in - which he has resolutely stuck to, reducing his weight and paving the way for a regular first-team place on his return to Birmingham. In New Zealand that winter, Twose made his maiden first-class hundred and earned brief notoriety for querying a leg-before de- cision Ian Botham won against him during England`s tour. On his return his first home century followed: a double-century against Leicestershire. His girlfriend, Shalene, is a New Zealander, and Twose decided to serve a four-year residential qualifying period, which he com- pleted last April, to become a fellow Kiwi. He switched from Cen- tral Districts to Wellington last winter and scored three more first-class hundreds. England selectors declined to take Twose on last winter`s A tour of India, feeling that Warwickshire were pushing his case on grounds of self-interest. But New Zealand had no such qualms. By February he could be facing England in Ahmedabad in New Zealand`s opening World Cup game and in April encountering Lara and the West Indies in a Caribbean Test. Excitement at a future interna- tional career is tempered with regrets. "I`m obviously delighted to have been picked by New Zealand but I`m sad to be leaving Warwickshire. I`ve had seven wonderful years here. They are a great club and they have helped mould me into the player I am today. "It`s the hardest decision of my life, upping roots. Finan- cially it`s no contest but going to New Zealand isn`t a matter of fi- nances. It`s a whole-of-life decision, not one made purely on cricketing grounds. "I couldn`t ask for a bigger stage than Lord`s to end my Warwickshire career." Electronic Telegraph is a Registered Service Mark of The Tele- graph plc Contributed by swanniar@uoguelph.ca (Sudas D Wanniarachchi)