Cricket: Success helps secure jobs

Roger Mortimer isn't a stranger to training. Photo / APN

If New Zealand can draw or win the test series in India, it will add significant weight to keeping the current management regime led by Roger Mortimer.

As performance director, Mortimer was contracted into the Black Caps structure in late 2008 ahead of the West Indies series.

He has since managed each player's individual performance plan (IPP), a blueprint for how they train inside and outside the Black Caps environment - using specialist coaches and specific training to keep them playing their best.

Mortimer has access to a budget for specialist help and uses it when he gets word from skipper Daniel Vettori.

In his new book Looking Back , Shane Bond admitted the culture had changed for the better when he returned from international exile in late 2009. Pre-Mortimer, it had been a "poor training culture" which "flowed on to skills training as well".

Bond said "waiting for New Zealand Cricket to provide you with everything you need had led to a complacent attitude".

However, the spruced-up tailored coaching system and its future started to look shaky after the 4-0 one-day series loss to Bangladesh.

That resulted in the NZC board's proposed formation of a "cricket committee" which included a number of former internationals to oversee the game from the elite to grassroots levels.

That new committee's influence may now wane in the lead-up to the World Cup with the more positive results over the past fortnight.

There was criticism of the Black Caps spending limited time in India in the lead-up, much like they failed to acclimatise to Bangladesh with practice matches rained out. But the extensive training on sub-continent style wickets at bowling coach Shane Jurgensen's former club Sandgate in Brisbane in winter appears to have paid dividends.

There were three camps, all lasting one to two weeks, between June and August. Everyone except Brendon McCullum and Ross Taylor participated against a selection of local spin bowlers.

Pragyan Ojha and Harbhajan Singh have not looked venomous thus far but they have also been blunted by some resolute New Zealand batting, particularly off the back foot.

The recent two tests have made a change from last summer when, for example, Vettori (batting at No 7) was seen having throwdowns inside the boundary rope after New Zealand had dismissed Pakistan in Dunedin.

Now he might consider leaving his pads in the locker and popping on his civvies in the time it's taking for him to be required at the crease with a stronger top order.

Furthermore, as the batsmen spend longer in the middle, the bowlers have more time off their feet, replenishing them for further toil.

What may have also impacted on the resurgence was batting coach Mark Greatbatch backing up the public castigation post-Bangladesh by describing his batsmen as having "played like dicks".

That direct approach, from someone renowned for batting time in his day, could have opened a few team members' eyes to their predicament.

The team have already met Greatbatch's pre-tour hope they might scrape by with at least a couple of draws.

While a drawn series would only match the two draws achieved last time in India in 2003, it would still be a resounding success considering the eighth-ranked Black Caps have been up against the highest-ranked team in the world. A similar Indian side beat Australia 2-0 last month.

New Zealand have lost only one of their last nine tests in India but have won there just twice. They have never taken a series.

In 1969, they relied on Hedley Howarth to take 9 for100 to win by 167 runs at Nagpur.

In 1988, it needed Richard Hadlee and John Bracewell to take 18 wickets between them on the way to a 136-run victory in Mumbai.