Behind every great sports team is someone the fans never see. For the Black Caps, since 2011, that someone has been Mike Sandle, the team manager described by some as the glue that holds the whole thing together. Twenty-four years in the New Zealand Police (Armed Offenders Squad, dog handling, gang intelligence) before cricket came calling. Present for some of the darkest days in modern NZ cricket history, including the infamous 45 all out at Cape Town in 2013, and for the golden era of Test series wins in India and England that followed.
In a rare long-form interview, Mike joins Dylan Cleaver and Paul Ford on The BYC to reflect on the whole arc. He explains what actually transferred from the Police into sports team management, takes us back to the night in Brendon McCullum's hotel room after the Cape Town 45 all out that changed everything, and reflects on the secret sauce behind the golden era of NZ cricket.
There's also the essential Sandle character content: the great nickname and who came up with it, the case for New Plymouth as New Zealand's most liveable city (chimney? Wind Wand? Rewa Rewa Bridge? Volcano fear?), the alchemy between manager, coach and captain across different eras, whether he'll be spending a week in Noosa between the second and third tests of the AUS tour, and the honest question, is arresting criminals or dealing with a grumpy Tim Southee harder?
Plus the reverent-reflective conversation about the 2019 World Cup Final aftermath, the moments when he's looked around the dressing room and thought "how did we do that?", and whether he dares to dream about the feeling at the end of the Sydney Test in January.
Peak insider-access cricket content. The kind of conversation only the BYC can land.
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