In those years as the Australian Cricket Team chaplain he saw five generations of cricketers come through the Australian cricket team system, in an era after the World Series Cricket and before this new cricket revolution of Twenty/20.
In his era as Chaplain to the Australian XI the captains were Kim Hughes, Allan Border, Mark Taylor and Steve Waugh. In this role he was interviewed by numerous media outlets including television, radio and newsprint.
The eighth and final article in this series, M V Tronson discusses the IPL has discovered how team make-ups from different cultures have established relationships that would have been difficult under any other conditions.
M V Tronson says that International Cricket is to get a new leader in a couple of years. Former Australian Prime Minister John Howard won the nomination as the combined Australia-New Zealand ICC Vice President, who, under the ICC system, takes on the Presidency in June.
If anyone should have learnt a lesson about the power of relationships, and how disastrous it is when you forget to listen to those around you, then it is John Howard, who lost his seat in his last election when he could have left Parliament earlier, and left as a hero.
International Cricket has witnessed some nasty lessons and strangely, the IPL (Indian Premier League) has found that 'relationships' with a new angle can be a positive. As Shane Warne recently said he is a captain-coach of an IPL team, with members from five different nationalities, each thinking differently from each other.
Warne sees this as a challenge, but his management style has developed so that he has used the various viewpoints as a positive step to help the players learn from each other, thus improving the relationships within his team, and enhancing the performance and morale of the whole team.
We recall various incidents during the Test matches three seasons ago which involved accusations of 'racism' from cricketers from India, Australia and Sri Lanka, and resulted in some penalties and suspensions.
This was a field day for the press of all cricketing countries, and everyone became concerned, particularly with slurs against a renowned West Indian Umpire, yet the IPL found that creating multi-racial teams altered the nature of this situation.
The rationale behind this was that players could form 'relationships' with each other as colleagues, rather than stereotyping each other as opponents from one culture or another.
Mark Tronson thinks that the IPL has demonstrated that the only way forward is to consider how to manage 'relationships'. How John Howard handles the ICC Presidency, his experience in 'relationships' will hopefully play an important part of his deliberations.
Well-Being Australia chairman Mark Tronson, a Baptist minister and cricket chaplain says that paying attention to good relationships is a core message of the New Testament and in 'heaven' there will people from every culture, all who have fallen at the foot of the Cross of Christ.
M V Tronson says that generosity and forgiveness are offered by God to everyone as each of us has gone astray. For those wanting a new start in relationships, be it cricket, marriage, family, friendships or work, the message of generosity and forgiveness described in the Bible is worth listening to.