Photos: England v NZ, third testKEY POINTS:
As John Bracewell propped himself up on one of the Radisson Manchester's ample couches delivering possibly his most impressive sermon in the four-point-something years he's been in charge, a nagging voice kept piping up in the back of my head.
It was asking a question: where did it
all go wrong?
Not 'wrong' in a George Best sense, or even in the sense of losing a test that could scarcely be lost.
No, it's more to do with why Bracewell has been unable to impress upon the team the personality he displayed as a player. Not necessarily the snarling appealer but the never-say-die attitude that was never better demonstrated than at Trent Bridge, the scene of this test, 18 years ago, when a century from Bracewell was the catalyst for New Zealand's first series win in England.
The voice then boiled the question down to a specific: when did it become obvious that Bracewell's reign had failed?
Was it when his side had spent two years sacrificing their test cricket form on the altar of the World Cup, only to finish in the standard semifinal position? Was it his clumsy and at times undignified attempts to engage the Australians in mind games? Was it when a bevy of experienced players decided to end their international careers while they still had something to offer?
Not really.
Bracewell's failings only became compellingly clear a fortnight ago when it became obvious New Zealand were still losing tests in a frighteningly similar fashion to how they were losing not long after he came into the job at the end of 2003.
THE INFAMOUS 'third innings collapse' was mercifully taken out of play at Trent Bridge when Daniel Vettori won the toss and bowled. However, it was something the skipper said in the lead-up to the test that required closer examination.
He believed "complacency" was the biggest factor in the Old Trafford collapse and that their reputation as third innings chokers will stay with them "until we do something about it".
Complacency was never a big part of Bracewell's make-up as a player. This is the man who, unimpressed with the athleticism of Trevor Franklin while fielding in close to his bowler, asked for "another statue at silly point". As the legend goes, when Franklin suggested they continue the debate behind the pavilion at stumps, Bracewell countered by offering to solve it then and there.
That 'mongrel' attitude is probably what excited long-time teammate Martin Snedden when, as chief executive of New Zealand Cricket, he appointed him. But New Zealand have been anything but mongrel under his tutelage.
Bracewell would be in the best position to answer why but, after three weeks of dithering, declined to state his case. He has, it is said, a distrust of the media that borders on paranoia.
Maybe his paranoia is best saved for some of his senior players. Allrounder Jacob Oram gave this candid offering to The Guardian while he was at the Indian Premier League.
"For three days we compete and then it goes wrong. I don't know whether it's mental or physical. It's as if we're done halfway through a game. I'd be rich if I had the answer. There's something not quite right there.
"That series [2004 v England] was weird. We were on top for a couple of games. Perhaps it's because we don't win too many Tests that we don't know how to seal it. We don't play enough to win."
It is a damning assessment. While players should take most of the blame, you also have to point the finger at the management.
BRACEWELL'S RE-APPOINTMENT after the World Cup was strange. Not in a nakedly political way - like Graham Henry's - but because it seemed everybody was taking the easy way out.
One day cricket was Bracewell's metier and with a heavy test programme for the next two years, it seemed a perfectly logical moment for him to step aside.
But it would have been harsh to sack somebody on the back of a World Cup semifinal performance - remember, India and Pakistan didn't make it that far.
In the end, Bracewell's greatest legacy might be the Ross Taylors, Daniel Flynns, Jesse Ryders and Tim Southees of this set-up. It might be in expediting the passing of the baton from Stephen Fleming to Vettori. He could be seen as a decent identifier of talent.
But he was never employed to do that. He was employed to win internationals whose most important form is tests.
He's won enough of the former but nowhere near enough of the latter. Unless there is a dramatic turnaround in the fortunes of this team in the 12 months before he returns to Gloucestershire, he has failed.
THIRD WORST
A third-innings horror story
Highest third-innings score in Bracewell reign: 336 at Lord's, 2004. NZ lost.
Lowest third-innings score in Bracewell reign: 76 at the Gabba, 2004. NZ lost.
Average completed third-innings score during Bracewell reign: 196.5
Infamous third-innings collapses
vs Pakistan at Basin Reserve, 2003-04. NZ lost.
161 vs England at Headingley, 2004. NZ lost.
218 vs England at Trent Bridge, 2004. NZ lost.
76 vs Australia, at the Gabba, 2004. NZ lost.
131 vs Australia, at Adelaide Oval, 2004. NZ lost.
136 vs South Africa, at Supersport, 2007. NZ lost.
177 vs England, at Seddon Park, 2008. NZ won.
114 vs England, at Old Trafford, 2008. NZ lost.
