Sideline Sid Sports correspondant & historian www.sunlive.co.nz

Reading newspapers and watching television sports news gives the impression that professional sportsmen and women earn wheelbarrow-loads of cash and live the good life jetting around the globe.

The reality for the majority of full time athletes, is it is little more than scratching out a living in pursuit of sporting success.

The current Bay of Plenty representative cricket team has a number of players who have put careers in commerce and the like on hold, to chase the dream of playing cricket all year round.

Current Bay of Plenty skipper Peter Drysdale provides a good example of chasing his dream at the moment instead of putting his degree to good use in the business world.

Armed with a university qualification, the majority of New Zealand full-time cricket players can make a lot more money using their brains instead of than utilising their skills on the cricket pitch.

However money is not what it is about when players choose to chase their dreams.

Like many of the current Bay side, Pete was a graduate from the Tauranga Boys' College cricket pathway, which includes Black Caps Kane Williamson and Daniel Flynn.

After graduating from university, the affable all-rounder joined the annual migration to the other side of the world to play English League cricket, before returning home to play in our summer each year.

For the last couple of decades, a number of Bay of Plenty cricket players have fled the southern hemisphere cold, to test their cricket skills in Great Britain and Europe.

While the traditional path had always been to England, Ben Williams led a wave of players to Holland in recent years. Andrew Hoogstraten used Dutch eligibility to play in Holland as a local player and earn a place in a Dutch National team.

What the players find in the northern hemisphere is a game that is taken very seriously by a large number of people.

Throughout England, the majority of villages have a village cricket green, where many of the locals belong to the cricket club and go along to watch during the summer.

Unlike New Zealand, where we play mainly on Saturday afternoons, English clubs play Saturday and Sunday cricket and often back-up in mid week twilight competitions.

The northern hemisphere experience has become a valuable contribution to recent Bay of Plenty representative sides, with players honing their skills on a diet of almost full time cricket.

However the reality is that while the visiting kiwi players usually receive return airfares and accommodation, they more often than not only receive a modest allowance, which sees the overseas trip as a big OE rather than a professional cricket career.

However, the major benefit for the returning kiwi players is nearly always a big improvement in skills, motivation and temperament after playing three or four days a week and having the luxury of unlimited practice and training time.

In recent weeks, three Bay of Plenty players who have made the northern hemisphere annual migration have achieved a notable milestone in Bay of Plenty Cricket history.

Skipper Peter Drysdale, master blaster Bharat Popli and seriously quick bowler Tony Goodin have posted fifty games in the Bay of Plenty uniform.

Just ten Bay players have previously reached the 50 game mark, led by Derek Beard (105 games) and Mike Wright (103 games), in the 82 year history of Bay of Plenty Cricket

Seeya at the Cricket.