'It was a long road back' – Jimmy Neesham

Before the series against Sri Lanka this month, Neesham, 28, had been out of the national side for a year and a half, not turning out for the Blackcaps since the ICC Champions Trophy 2017. He lost his central contract, and lost his place in his domestic side as well.

But he made a triumphant comeback this year. A switch from Otago to Wellington made a difference – in both the runs and wickets column, as well as his mental approach to the game. And with the selectors choosing to rest their first-choice players, he grabbed the opportunity he got.

He took six wickets in his comeback series against Sri Lanka, to go with vital middle-order runs, putting himself firmly in contention for a spot in the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup 2019 squad.

None of it was expected, Neesham said. "Anyone who spends 18 months out of a team and comes back and says I always believed I'd make it back is either a liar or an idiot," he declared in typically forthright fashion, speaking to Radio Sport Breakfast. "Of course it (not being selected again) goes through your mind ... especially after getting left out of the Otago team last season. It was a long road back from there."

The left-hand batsman and seam bowler said he was "pretty proud" of how he'd managed "to get back up, dust myself off". Where mood swings had affected his training before, he was more committed now, he explained. Sessions with a mental skills coach helped him find techniques to stay relaxed and focus.

"I made a bit of a pact with myself that no matter how I was feeling on a day, it didn't matter if I hated it, if I was done or whatever ... Just do the work and get it done and get out of here," he said.

"In the past, it's probably not been my MO. I've been a good player and trainer when I feel like it, but not at other times when under the weather or not really feeling it."

Neesham marked his return with an entertaining 47* off just 13 balls in the first one-day international against Sri Lanka, which included taking Thisara Perera for five sixes in one over. He credited it to the old cliche of simply enjoying himself on the field.

"You can't have a slog like I did in first game without being more carefree," he said. "In the past I've been quite self critical and anxious before games. I acted like the world was on my shoulders.

"It's a cliche to say relax go out and have fun, but I genuinely didn't really mind if I got runs or wickets. (But) there's a difference between knowing that and obsessing over it."