A perceived 'she'll be right' persona has also helped cement Bracewell believers. In the post-match interview to his Hobart exploits he casually dropped an F-bomb on Radio Sport to sum up his relief before noting he was going to celebrate hard. While it would not be advisable to do it too often, such comments were spoken from the heart and reflected a moment of enormous satisfaction many New Zealand fans could relate to.
His reaction was similarly refreshing after being picked up by the Indian Premier League's Delhi Daredevils on a US$50,000 contract. Rather than huddling around a computer preparing to count his cash, Bracewell was on a fishing trip off Whangarei.
He found out via text after his agent Greg Dyer of Essentially Group did some late lobbying on his behalf. Bracewell is looking forward to sitting in the same dressing room as the likes of Virender Sehwag, David Warner and Morne Morkel but recognises he might have to be more intrepid on the food front.
"I've heard they don't have that much butter chicken up there - which is a bit of a worry - but I like my Indian food so I'll probably try some new dishes and hopefully avoid spending too much time on the dunny."
For those of a statistical bent, Bracewell's rise should never have occurred. He is not centrally contracted to NZC and his first-class bowling record pre-October - 46 wickets at an average of 40.65 in 18 matches after debuting for Central Districts in 2008 - in no way compares to the 21 wickets at 16.47 he has amassed in four tests.
Instead Bracewell is a case of New Zealand coach John Wright applying intuition and reaping the reward of selecting an instinctive competitor over rivals who stack up better in the almanacs.
Yet what no almanac can account for (and Wright knew) was the competitive environment Bracewell had been raised in by his father, former New Zealand test fast bowler Brendon.
Brendon ran the original Bracewell academy at Te Puna, just out of Tauranga (he now runs a similar concept in Napier). Boys aged 10 to 13 would come in over the summer to train a week at a time. Graduates have included current Black Caps Kane Williamson (21) and Trent Boult (22).
Doug grew up needing to be physically and mentally tough to survive. That has since prompted a description of him as "21 going on 31".
The highlight (or lowlight for some) was a visit to what Bracewell snr coined "Get Hard Park" in the fields surrounding Te Puna Rugby Club. Boys would be cajoled into shuttle runs and sprints up a hill. After stumps were pulled on a day of "test" cricket, recruits often played rugby followed by barbecues before retiring to their bunkroom barracks.
Such a camp might bring to mind images of Andre Agassi in his autobiography Open trying to slay the tennis ball-spitting dragon set up by his father Mike, but you sense Bracewell got nothing short of enjoyment out of those experiences.
"It was pretty full-on training, given how young we were. Dad used to make the camps into game situations. You'd take it seriously. We used to play 'no mistake nets' with two batters and two bowlers. It got competitive but was a lot of fun."
