Whakatane's Tony Hodge had the rare experience of giving a few pointers to English Cricket Capitan Alistair Cook- on shearing not cricket - while on a working holiday in the UK.

Tony, the son of well-respected shearers and national and international judges Carol and David Hodge of Pikowai near Whakatane met Alistair while shearing sheep on the farm owned by the parents of Alistair's girlfriend.

'Tony who is a keen cricketer, was stocked to meet Alistair and even more so when Alistair asked to have a go at shearing,” says Carol Hodge.

Tony spent the New Zealand winter in the UK shearing for Andrew Deverall, son of former shearing contractors Robert and Janet Deverall of Tauranga.

He found conditions very different from New Zealand, shearing small mobs of sheep on farms with few facilities to keep sheep under cover and as part of a gang equipped with portable yards and shearing plant. Tony, who recently graduated from Lincoln, has now returned home keen to continue with a professional shearing career.

#Alistair Cook is a left-handed opening batsman who plays county cricket for Essex and International cricket
for England.