KEY POINTS:
MELBOURNE - Okay, time for another apology.
In common with other newspapers, we may have been guilty of suggesting that John Bracewell was not quite the next Albert Einstein, and that his selection policies appeared to have been designed by a bunch of Alzheimer's victims.
To be honest, this assessment was based mostly on the proceedings during the earlier series against Sri Lanka and at no stage took into account the unlikely scenario that Bracewell might have been correct, or that the New Zealand team might improve.
It wasn't until the under-fire squad arrived in Perth, strung together back-to-back 300-plus totals and all but wrapped up their place in the tri-series finals, that "we" were fully able to appreciate the error of our ways and determine a better course of action.
So, with caps in hand we now unreservedly withdraw the Operation Screwloose allegation and publicly concede that Bracewell probably had a point when he argued for greater squad development, even if it did mean getting bowled out for 73 along the way.
Furthermore, rather than doubt New Zealand's chances in the tri-series and World Cup, we now acknowledge that Bracewell's squad is shaping up as a serious contender in both competitions, and could yet be on the cusp of celebrating a historic season.
Certainly, the way Jacob Oram has exploded back into action on the ODI scene, and the manner in which Lou Vincent has taken his chances augurs well for a team that's already qualified for four World Cup semifinals, and is desperate to go a step further in the Caribbean.
While we were scoffing and dissolving in laughter over Bracewell's much-maligned rotation policy, the New Zealand team were witnessing the emergence of blossoming paceman Mark Gillespie, managing the fitness of Shane Bond, and finding out vital information about the form of Nathan Astle.
Players such as Michael Mason and Jeetan Patel were afforded valuable game time, Daniel Vettori was primed as a replacement skipper and cover for Stephen Fleming, and injured front-liners such as Oram, Scott Styris and Kyle Mills were given time to make full recoveries.
Bracewell insisted he was on the right track, but for a while there - all we could see was a sightly irritated man wandering around in the thick undergrowth with no clue where he was, and no idea how to find his way out.
How wrong could we have been.
It all came to a head over the past few days when New Zealand - courtesy of Oram and Vincent - set alight an initially turgid tri-series, woke up Australia with a thrilling run-chase at the Waca, steamrollered England and moved within one win of cementing a finals' berth.
With Styris now in Melbourne after recovering from his calf injury and Mills likely to make swift progress with every outing, New Zealand have transformed from being the "unwatchables" to being compulsory viewing every time they take the field.
And another concession: Bracewell was probably right to send Brendon McCullum back to No 7 before the halfway point of the series, even though we kept banging on about the need to give the little gloveman longer in the opening position.
Since then, McCullum's featured in a match-winning stand at Adelaide while ensuring his team took the points against England, and was even more impressive against Australia on Sunday, when he played a magnificent foil for Oram.
So it's time to say that we were wrong; that it's become evident that Bracewell is neither crackers nor bonkers.
You never know, if he keeps on like this, we may even start believing him about Astle's retirement decision.
