Cricket: Bracewell keeps faith with his senior batsmen

Proponents of change might be less than impressed, but New Zealand's embattled top-order seems almost certain to be retained for the upcoming Chappell-Hadlee series against Australia.

Coach John Bracewell hinted at the status quo after the team arrived home from South Africa this week, following a miserable 4-nil series defeat and a mystifying loss of form from the specialist batsmen.

Veteran opener Nathan Astle averaged just 13.00 and Hamish Marshall 8.66, and things were only moderately better for the seasoned Craig McMillan (24.25) and Stephen Fleming (26.25).

Only in the final game at Centurion, when the series was already lost, did the tourists manage to fashion a respectable start to their innings, reaching 75 for one in the 13th over, following scores of 2-18, 2-16 and 2-23.

Bracewell, however - in the best traditions of Dad's Army's Corporal Jones - is warning the cricket fraternity not to panic, reasoning that good players did not become bad players overnight, and that the setback was more than likely a one-off.

"We won the last series [against India and Zimbabwe] convincingly away from home, and went the whole distance by beating India in the final," he said. "So I see the South African slump as a bit of an aberration.

"We just had three guys having a bad run at the same time, which is pretty difficult to counter."

In defence of his top order, Bracewell said they'd performed well over a period of the past two years, during which time New Zealand defeated Pakistan and South Africa at home, won the NatWest series in England, and beat India in a tri-series final in September.

The only genuine blips were in last summer's home series against Australia and in the just-completed tour of South Africa.

"We annihilated Zimbabwe and India in September because of the form of our established batsmen, and then lost a series in South Africa because of them," Bracewell said.

"The upshot of the slump in South Africa was that we exposed our less-experienced players and asked too much of them over the course of the series.

"It just confirmed again that the responsibility for runs rests with the senior batsmen; they have to succeed about 75 per cent of the time."

To make matters worse for Bracewell, he watched his top-order struggle in conditions that were pretty much in their favour, and not dissimilar to the conditions in which they played at home.

Some of the pitches, he said, played very slow at the start and became extremely slow later on, and others were out-and-out bowl-first wickets because of the moisture in the surface or atmosphere.

"It wasn't a situation like touring Australia, where just about the whole team have to be playing out of their skin to compete," he said.

"The South Africans didn't have a good bowling attack and we were playing on pitches that were conducive to our sort of game. And I think that, had we scored more runs, their batting might have been exposed as well."

As for solutions, it seems almost certain that Chris Cairns will be recalled for the Chappell-Hadlee series as long as he remains fit and able to bowl, an addition that will restore the balance lost by the unavailability of Jacob Oram.

Bracewell wouldn't say so at the time, but he did acknowledge New Zealand's historical reliance on all-rounders and the difficulty of selecting a well-balanced side when deprived of players such as Oram, and (for a short time) Scott Styris.

"Not having our all-rounders exposes us a bit in terms of balance," he conceded. "We're a side that's received good value from our all-rounders for some time now; our ODI history is built mainly on their success.

"When we don't have them it creates problems for us, although in South Africa it at least allowed us to see the all-round qualities of others - such as Mills, Adams and Franklin."

However, he said that even if the selectors had known in advance of Oram's limitations with the ball, it would not have changed his decision to leave Chris Cairns at home.

"We wouldn't have taken Jake if we'd known in advance that he couldn't bowl," Bracewell said. "But that wouldn't have changed my stance on Christopher Cairns. Why replace a player who's not fit enough to compete at international level with another player who's not fit enough to do the job?"

The Bracewell briefings: before and after

James Franklin

Has suffered in the past at the hands of hard-hitting lower-order batsmen and on one memorable occasion at Perth in 2002, when Shaun Pollock helped himself to 35 runs off 11 balls (including four sixes). Has shown a tendency to be collared when the ball doesn't swing, and conceded 53 off eight overs during the seventh game of last year's NatWest Series.

Bracewell: "James showed some positive glimpses with the bat and ball. Half the time these guys are still learning about themselves and James is a good example of that. He's discovering that he can excel at this level, and that's far better than someone else trying to convince him. He would have played more, but was ruled out of the Port Elizabeth contest with back spasms."

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Andre Adams

No one doubted he could star on his day but his record was about as consistent as an Auckland bus. For every good performance, there were about 10 wayward ones, and at times his sense of direction was so bad it was a wonder he wasn't lost on the way to the ground.

Bracewell: "Adams showed consistent mental strength throughout the tour, something that's clearly been a concern in the past. On this tour he was extremely consistent in his approach and that was reflected in his performances. I think the work he's put in and the experience gained over the past two years is making him a more worldly cricketer."

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Kyle Mills

Arrived in South Africa with question marks over his future following some hairy moments as a death bowler, a less than ideal series against Australia last summer, and mounting speculation that there were better options for selectors.

Bracewell: "Mills really stepped up as a player. He hadn't really batted for two years because of the solid form of our top order, but (unfortunately) had more opportunities on this trip. Demonstrated his all-round game was continuing to develop. Bowled, batted and fielded very well."