KEY POINTS:
Needless to say, after a World Cup in which the New Zealand cricketers starred in their own snuff movie, the lynch-mobs are already storming the doors of the coach, and preparing the ducking stool for his selectors.
One of the few who didn't face a ball or appear at the bowling crease, John Bracewell is now shaping as the scapegoat for a bunch of ordinary players, who - when push came to shove - showed all the fortitude of a basket of puppies.
Bracewell? What more could he have done? Here was a team that unwittingly stumbled on to the secret path to success and still lost their way hopelessly at the first fork, as soon as they were confronted with the first sign of pressure.
Change the coach, sure. But if the past month was anything to go by, don't expect the replacement to do any better with the current crop of lemmings. The simple fact is that they aren't good enough.
You could graft together the genes from Red Auerbach, Matt Busby, Yogi Berra and Angelo Dundee and still fail to come up with anyone who could help these blokes handle genuine pressure, much less win a World Cup.
New Zealand didn't crash out of the tournament because of Bracewell's deficiencies. In fact, never has a team from the Long White Blouse been so well prepared for the four-yearly showcase.
Extra care was taken to ensure the best players were fit and available; the opposition was thoroughly scouted and analysed and all sorts of specialist assistance was at hand, including that of a team psychologist.
The Apollo 11 crew could hardly have been better equipped - mainly because of the single-mindedness and commitment of Bracewell, and his desire to see New Zealand create history.
No, New Zealand bombed out in the Caribbean because the individual players, when presented with the equivalent of a rigged draw to see them through to the semifinals, choked like a chihuahua on a chicken bone. Remember the old saying about a champion team always beating a team of champions? Utter rubbish. Romantic bollocks.
Faced with a Sri Lankan side featuring a majority of match-winners, New Zealand's teamwork was never going to be enough to make up for the shortcomings in their talent pool, and the results were painful to watch.
As Sri Lanka's began seizing the initiative from the two-hour mark of the semi, New Zealand's mental resolve seemed to disintegrate and they began giving a decent impression of another Ian Baker-Finch comeback.
Bracewell may not be perfect, and it's true that he's never really warmed to the Herald since being compared to the potty comic-strip inventor Gyro Gearloose. But why throw the baby out with the bath water?
The question should not be: Should we sack Braces? but whether there's a better replacement available.
If John Wright was to throw his hat into the ring; if Sri Lankan coach Tom Moody was to opt for a change, then there would be a case for grabbing the best man for the job.
If Bracewell was to continue for another couple of years and then depart, the new coach would have little time for a rethink before the 2011 event.
These are fair questions and should be asked, not as much because Bracewell has proved himself deficient, but because everything comes to an end at some stage, and timing is always important.
But to suggest the coach should pay for the semifinal setback with his head is simply moronic blood-letting, showing a lack of tolerance if not a trend towards our most base instincts.
Bracewell's not the problem. It's the nagging suspicion that if we couldn't make the final of this tournament, we never will.
