To his team-mates and casual acquaintances Tim McIntosh sometimes appears a "cool dude," relaxed about his batsmanship, one of the Mark Waugh half-down school of reflex slip fieldsmen.

But deep down he is very sensitive about his cricket - and the latest scar on the cricketing psyche came last week when he scored a "pair" of ducks against Wellington at Cornwall Park.

"That really hurt. I had been trying to get my average up, and that happened. I felt I had some ground to regain against Canterbury."

Regain it he did, adding a technically outstanding innings of 167 against Canterbury at Eden Park Outer Oval yesterday to the 182 he scored against the red and blacks in the first round match about the time of his 21st birthday in December.

"It is not that I have anything special against Canterbury bowlers, apart from the old fact that Auckland and Canterbury are the keenest sporting rivals, and it is good to keep that going."

McIntosh learned his cricket with the Parnell club, at Auckland Grammar School and through the Auckland age-grade system.

And in the back of his mind, McIntosh stowed away his own file on left-handed batsmanship - with Stephen Fleming of New Zealand and Brian Lara of West Indies as obvious reference points, and with special regard for Matthew Hayden, the forthright Queensland left-handed opening bat not always kindly treated over the years by the Australian selectors.

"Matthew Hayden is a bit special, I like the way he hits the ball, he goes for his shots."

It might not be stretching the imagination too much to see touches of Hayden, rather than Fleming and Lara, in his magnificent, free-stroking innings of yesterday.

Once he began to move his feet with confidence McIntosh let flow a superb range of drives, sometimes through extra cover or midwicket, but especially straight down the ground - strokes with the genuine Hayden trademark.

But McIntosh is looking more to England than Queensland for his immediate cricket education. He has a friend looking for a post with an English club in the off-season, and McIntosh is looking forward avidly to gaining his first real taste of the overseas cricketing world.

"Then I want to come back and play for Parnell and Auckland, and get to work on my batting, and its average.

"I had a slump halfway through this season. I do not want that to happen again next season."

And that sounds like a determined young man, even if he may be a cool customer.

© CricInfo