Distracted Kiwis touch down for tour

LONDON—In body, if not in spirit, New Zealand’s cricketers last night arrived in England for the start of their three-Test series. Ordinarily, such a tour would represent one of the biggest challenges that any of these players could hope to face - last month, their former captain, Stephen Fleming, recalled his team’s 2-1 victory in 1999 as the proudest moment of an illustrious career. But times they are a-changing, and when the coach, John Bracewell, and the stand-in captain, Jamie How, faced the media at Lord’s on Thursday afternoon, neither man could quite pretend that they are entirely focused on the job.
Even allowing for the jet-lag, their distraction was hardly surprising. New Zealand’s five finest players are scattered to the four corners of the subcontinent, earning life-changing sums of money in the Indian Premier League, and with that in mind, Bracewell seemed more intent on flirting with his former county, Gloucestershire, than discussing his squad’s strategy for the summer. How, meanwhile, looked as quizzical as his surname would suggest, as he tried to fathom whether it was an honour or an insult to be lumped with the leadership of such a threadbare unit.
“It’s not ideal, but this is the reality of the landscape we live in,” said Bracewell. His players take on an MCC side captained by Chris Cairns at Arundel, on Sunday, and then decamp to Canterbury for a three-day match against Kent. Only then will their superstars deign to make an appearance - one of whom, Brendon McCullum, has now officially entered the big-time following last week’s incredible 158 not out from 73 balls in Bangalore.
Since time immemorial, the success of a touring side has had a direct correlation with the cohesiveness of the players in the squad, but on the face of it, this situation is as divisive as they come. Bracewell, however, insisted his players were mature enough to adapt to cricket’s changing world. “All things have the potential to cause friction, but our group understands it,” he said. “For us, it’s a glass-half-full situation. This brings us into line with New Zealand’s rugby players in terms of salaries, and the bottom line is it’s our best players who get invited, so it’s an incentive-based scheme.”
There was a distinct them-and-us vibe in the air, however. “I think everyone wishes they were in India at some point,” said How, a touch more candidly than you might expect of a brand-new international captain. His words harboured no pretence as to the importance of his current role, however. Of New Zealand’s first-choice eleven from last month’s series, two batsmen (Matthew Bell and Mathew Sinclair) have been dropped, another (Fleming) has retired, while five have gone to a higher calling. In fact, of the 13 players in the country, only How, Tim Southee and Chris Martin can realistically expect a place at Lord’s on May 15.
No wonder Bracewell wasn’t about to get too bombastic with his series predictions. “We’re the underdogs,” he said. “It’ll be hard work for us given our experience, or lack of. We’re rebuilding and setting some lines to get over as a team, but in Test cricket England are way ahead of us, and we’ll have to work extremely hard to beat them.” When asked if he thought New Zealand play enough Test cricket, Bracewell was unequivocal in his answer. “No,” he declared, and he has a point. New Zealand have played just seven Tests in the last 18 months, and two of those came against Bangladesh. “It’s an administration thing, in terms of the Future Tours Programme,” he said. “We recognise we don’t play enough, but we are trying to get more.” But with the advent of the IPL, and the general shake-up that the game is currently undergoing, it’s a vain hope. Bracewell cited McCullum’s international career as an example of how under-exposed his players are.—Agencies