He only touched down at Heathrow a few short weeks ago and yet scores of 63 not out and 102 have helped get our flagship team’s League campaign off to a flying start.

Cole is a very fine wicket-keeper and ferociously powerful batsman who has joined the club this summer from the Auckland Aces in New Zealand where he plays professionally in all three formats.

‘Until the age of 21 I was more of a specialist keeper,’ Cole says, ‘but I knew I had to add more of a power element to my batting and so I worked really hard on that.’ I think it paid off, mate!

He was actually born in Nelspruit in South Africa but his family moved to New Zealand when he was just four. (Is there a slight South African tinge beneath the soft Kiwi accent?) Now aged 26, Cole has been making quite a name for himself on the other side of the planet with a technique and skills-set ideally suited to the white-ball game.

This isn’t his first experience of English cricket, though. Cole spent eight weeks over here at the tender age of 15 playing for Messingham CC in Lincolnshire and he also played a summer for Micklehurst CC in Mossley near Manchester in 2016. In addition, he had a spell at Kampong CC in the Netherlands in 2022. All great experience in helping him assess and adapt to the different pitch conditions to be found in this part of the world.

‘I’ve been made to feel very welcome by everyone in Harpenden,’ Cole says. ‘I love playing with Jimmy’s 1st team and also coaching the juniors on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday evenings. It feels like a great club.’

Not only is he a very agreeable and grounded young man, our Cole is a smart lad too. He has a BSc in Biology and Environmental Science from the University of Auckland and works for a research company in the NZ winters when he’s not playing cricket in the northern hemisphere. ‘My parents were absolutely right in wanting me to get a proper education and a qualification that I can fall back on when required,’ Cole says.

Do say hello to Cole and his lovely wife Renate when the opportunity arises down at the clubhouse. Wouldn’t it be lovely for Harpenden CC to have played a small part in helping Cole to fulfil his lifetime ambition of pulling on the Black Caps’ ‘baggy’? You might be shaking hands with a future international cricketer.

Photo credit: @photosportnz