``You are aware of it and what people might think.

``If you go to a bar people might look at you and wonder how many you've had,'' the former New Zealand cricket captain and coach said in Christchurch yesterday.

On a whistle-stop tour to promote his new book, Stirred But Not Shaken, Howarth still portrayed a few of those sensitivities yesterday.

No thanks, he said, to the suggestion of doing the interview over a lunch-time beer.

And the idea of photographing him in front of an inner-city bar was a no-no.

The issue comes down to this: many cricketers have accused Howarth of being a heavy drinker over his career and that this has sometimes impacted on various teams.

Howarth has written in the book that he enjoys a drink, but he's not a drunk.

``I am not an angel,'' he said yesterday. ``But neither are the majority of cricketers.'' Howarth does not know whether it was any particular incident that sparked the drinking allegations.

He writes in the book that he is particularly annoyed about one rumour: that he is a gin drinker.

``I can't stand the stuff. During a test match in Christchurch I decided to test this rumour. After dinner on the first day of play, I sat on my own at the bar for a couple of hours. I had no alcohol at all and limited myself to lemonade and lime throughout the evening.

``Sure enough, by the next day I was confronted by the rumour mongers suggesting that Howarth had been at the bar all night drinking gin.

``It was another example of some of the rubbish I had to put up with.''

The book comes three years after Howarth's contract was terminated as New Zealand coach.

He now lives in England, where he coaches privately and works in corporate hospitality.

He is back in New Zealand until February and would not mind a situation in future where he is spending six months here and six months in Britain.

``Whilst I am over here for four or five months, I want to put out some feelers for coaching, whether it's international, first-class . . . whatever it might be.

``I love New Zealand and I still think I have a lot to offer New Zealand cricket.''

Certainly, he has strong views on the present state of the game.

Because of the tightening of rules, the opportunities are now limited for many Kiwi cricketers to follow in the footsteps of Howarth and other New Zealanders to play county cricket in England.

Australia ideal testing ground

Howarth believes some young players would benefit from playing in Australia, by having their attitudes hardened in one of the strongest domestic competitions in the world.

New Zealand domestic cricket is nowhere near as strong as it was in the 1970s, he says, pinpointing a lack of players in the 23-28 age bracket.

This is largely because of economic reasons and Howarth welcomes moves by New Zealand Cricket to boost the pay packets of first-class cricketers.

He says the New Zealand public and media need to be patient for results from the national men's team.

``There's some fine, very talented players.

``But to build a team from scratch as I had to do and which Steve Rixon has had to do takes time and effort.''

It might take a ``good couple of years'' to build the experience and hard-nosed attitude to the point that the team was performing consistently again, he said.