Dylan Cleaver: Time to draw stumps

Shane Bond spent unnecessary time out of the New Zealand team. Photo / Getty Images

When this newspaper rolled off the presses for the first time, I was two days into what would turn out to be an immensely enjoyable, sometimes frustrating five-year shift as cricket correspondent for the Herald on Sunday. This is my last column in that role. Allow me to indulge myself in a series of random thoughts under the none-too-catchy working title of: The Cricket World According to Dylan Cleaver ... For What it's Worth.

1 The past five years could have been great for New Zealand. No, seriously.

Instead, bar the odd nice run in one-day tournaments, they have been poor.

Why? There's no one answer but instead a perfect storm of circumstances that led to experience being under-appreciated and young talent being over-promoted.

Guys like Daniel Flynn and Martin Guptill should still be trying to force their way into the New Zealand side through sheer weight of domestic runs.

Instead they are established internationals and, in the case of Guptill and Flynn, have become so with wafer-thin records (which is not to say they both won't become excellent players).

Nathan Astle, Craig McMillan, Stephen Fleming, Hamish Marshall and Lou Vincent on the batting side alone left the international game too early - in some cases far too early - and bowlers Shane Bond and Daryl Tuffey spent unnecessary time in the wilderness.

The perfect storm?

* Ric Charlesworth, that agent of change, rolled into New Zealand Cricket with an idea that several players had become too comfortable and needed their foundations shaken.

* Charlesworth found a coach in John Bracewell who was prepared to treat every new theory he came across as wisdom delivered from the mouth of Solomon.

* Bracewell headed a selection panel that increasingly felt like it was their job to play God, rather than select the best side.

* They ran into players, including naturally conservative Cantabrians, who were averse to change per se and decided that flight, not fight, was the best way to express their displeasure.

* The creation of two Indian franchise-based Twenty20 leagues suddenly made retirement a lucrative option.

So rather than getting a great situation where you have these quality players leaving the sport in dribs and drabs over a period of six or seven years, New Zealand cricket was faced with an exodus.

That meant a talented crop of youngsters were forced to learn how to play cricket at the top level, rather than in domestic cricket.

2 Don't buy into the theory that cricket gets a disproportionate amount of media coverage.

This theory is mainly promulgated by leaguies looking for a new target when their anti-union protests keep falling on deaf ears.

Cricket is booming. The interest in cricket has always been strong and there is empirical and anecdotal evidence that it is getting stronger.

Because the grounds at first-class games are sparsely populated (actually, sparsely is being kind), some equate that with a lack of interest.

In fact, the internet traffic over the NZC website when they are live scoring domestic matches is staggering.

People dip in and out of cricket during the day. It has become the nature of the beast. Few have the seven free hours a day required to attend these matches.

In that respect Twenty20 has been a boon for the sport. The 20-over format has introduced new fans to the sport and re-engaged others.

As a format, it has been rightly embraced by the national boards and by the ICC in general. Unfortunately, avarice has meant that embrace has come with a double-edged sword ...

3 The ICC are mismanaging this wonderful sport. No secrets there but I mean really mismanaging it.

It's an outmoded organisation trying to remain relevant in an increasingly commercial world.

Twenty20 had the potential to be the best thing that had happened to cricket since Kerry Packer revolutionised coverage. Instead it could potentially split the game.

The IPL needs a window. Full stop.

Forget the argument that it is a domestic competition. Each of the eight franchises - and it will expand sooner rather than later - has 10 overseas players on its books. Sound like a genuine domestic competition to you?

The rest of the cricket world needs compensation for the six or seven weeks they will effectively be unable to operate but that, too, is manageable given the broadcasting revenue flowing into the coffers.

We could talk at length here about Zimbabwe; about the Darrell Hair/Pakistan debacle; about the absolute disgrace that was the 2007 World Cup; about the lack of action around ball-tampering and over rates; but why end on a sour note?

4 The Black Caps is an awful marketing tool that New Zealand Cricket has been force-feeding us for too long.

For every time I have let my guard slip and referred to this team, some of who occasionally wear their caps, which are predominantly black, in the field, as the Black Caps, I apologise unreservedly (the headlines I can do nothing about).

What you will never see in this paper is New Zealand referred to as Blackcaps, one word, or their official title of BLACKCAPS, one word, all in capitals.

The All Blacks was a triumph of timing, originality and, as legend has it, a misprint in a newspaper that was describing them as the All Backs because of their sure-handed style of running rugby.

If cricket really wanted to be taken seriously here, why would they keep endorsing a gimmick that will never be anything other than a pale imitation of an iconic brand? Honestly, what exactly is wrong with calling our team New Zealand?

5 New Zealand cricket fans are curious and yet rather magnificent beasts.

Let's get down to brass tacks here: the self-styled "Black Caps" have not given fans an awful lot to cheer about since the turn of the century (some would argue the turn of the century previous).

Yet it takes only the slightest indication that the corner is turned for people to start flocking to the grounds again.

The 2007 Chappell-Hadlee Trophy was a good example. After a comprehensive first-match victory to New Zealand, thousands poured into Eden Park and Seddon Park for games two and three, even though game three was a dead rubber.

Perhaps circumstance and mediocrity have forced New Zealand fans to be more rounded and less jingoistic than others. They appreciate good cricket.

All the better when New Zealand play well but it's not absolutely necessary.

That's why there were times last season when the epic Australia-South Africa tests were rating higher than the dross that was being served up by New Zealand and the West Indies in Dunedin. That's healthy, not unpatriotic.

Read the cricket blogs around the country - the best being Sideline Slogger. The threads are full of opinion, some of it misguided, some of it inspired, but all are posted with a loving touch.

Adios.