There is no cooking involved. There is barely any cleanup. They are nice and easy.
And with that, we bring you today’s column.
Four-day-old mince with toast. It is nothing tomato sauce won’t fix.
There were just so many stories from Otago’s opening day of the Plunket Shield campaign that we did not have the time or space to do them justice.
Jacob Cumming scored a breakthrough century. Jack Boyle also scored his maiden first-class hundred for Otago. And, of course, there was the youngster.
Tom Jones is the new wonderkid with cricketing royalty in the family. His grandfather is the Playing Mantis himself — the beloved Jeremy Coney.
The 19-year-old blasted 119 on his first-class debut and managed to overshadow two other quality performances.
Notes From Slip phoned for a chat after the day’s play.
He is an engaging young man. A transplanted Aucklander, but with a good head on his
shoulders.
Honestly, he made it look like he was having a laugh with his mates out at Tonga Park.
"Nah, nah. Once the platform was set up at the top, my job was a lot easier," he said.
"I just went out there and batted. It was great fun."
Jones said he was not normally that aggressive. His hundred came up off 87 balls — his quickest ton at any level.
"I’m not normally going at that tempo. I was just in a good place and nice and free and was reacting to what was in front of me."
Jones said his grandfather had always been encouraging of his cricket in a low-key way.
"He just tells me to enjoy it."
Solid advice. And Jones did enjoy scoring a century against his grandfather’s old team.
"He played all his cricket for Wellington ... and he actually debuted against Otago, so it was nice to have a bit of a family connection to the Basin [Reserve]."
Otago wicketkeeper Max Chu played an important role in Jones’ decision to move south from Auckland and try his hand for Otago.
"I think I was always going to come to university, but I didn’t really know what that looked like for my cricket.
"But there was a moment where I was working for Auckland Cricket, walking the boundary of a Super Smash game, and in between the Sparks and the Volts game, Chewie actually yelled out to me from about 20m away.
"He’d never met me, and he said, ‘Hey, when you’re in Dunedin, we’ll catch up for a coffee and have a chat’, and I think that was probably the moment where I was, like, that’s something I want to be a part of.
"The people were a big factor for me, and then I went to a couple of trainings, and the boys have been the people who make it.
"I was really grateful for my pathway stuff in Auckland, but I think it was probably time for a change for me."
Jones is studying law and finance. He has just finished his first year, so he has all summer to concentrate on cricket.
"I’m absolutely loving it."
So are we.
