Bracewell sees light

New Zealand cricket coach John Bracewell can see through the current gloom to hail the arrival of James Marshall, and predicts the twins playing a big part in their 2007 World Cup campaign.
Cricket followers will see double at some stage this series against Australia, possibly tomorrow at Eden Park, with the identical mop-haired Marshalls poised to become the first brothers in the same New Zealand 11 since Martin and Jeff Crowe in the 1980s.
James Marshall got a taste as a substitute fielder in the 106-run loss to Australia in Christchurch on Tuesday and on Wednesday was named in the 13-man squad for the next two matches with New Zealand trailing 0-2 already.
Bracewell sees the Marshall twins and livewire wicketkeeper-batsman Brendon McCullum as the new breed of one-day cricketer, and said he would gladly accommodate both Marshalls, 26, in the same team.
"It's unique and it excites me having cricketers like that around the country," Bracewell said.
"If we can develop more cricketers with that rotation skill, we will become a far better cricketing nation because of it."
Rather than being big boundary hitters, the Marshalls are expert mid-innings accumulators as evidenced in Hamish Marshall's 76 off 69 balls which should have led home a win in Wellington last weekend.
James Marshall, who has never played for New Zealand despite boasting a better first-class record than his brother, impressed Bracewell with his 95 not out for Northern Districts in this month's State Shield semifinal against Canterbury.
The 119-ball knock was labelled by Bracewell as the best domestic innings of the summer.
"I'd love to see the opportunity of another guy who can actually work the ball as Hamish and Brendon does in our batting lineup for tough games like this.
"When you've got a metronomical bowling attack that doesn't miss its mark, to have guys who can work as many twos as they do is invaluable.
"We need to make sure we have that balance in our side in order to continue our growth to the World Cup."
It was no coincidence that speedsters Hamish Marshall and McCullum were at the crease when New Zealand chased down 247 to win their only match in their past 11 against Australia, at Melbourne's Colonial Stadium in December.
As Bracewell noted, the middle order is causing him few headaches in the current series ? it is more the first 15 overs with bat and ball.
In Christchurch Australia raced to 96 for one off 15 against Daryl Tuffey and Kyle Mills, and the match was well gone in the 16th over of New Zealand's innings at 73 for six against Glenn McGrath and Brett Lee.
Bracewell responded by dropping Mathew Sinclair, recalling opener Michael Papps, and hinting Andre Adams was likely to replace Tuffey in the third match at Eden Park tomorrow. It wouldn't take much to recover from Tuesday's hiding, Bracewell said.
"The last four times we've played them, we've had three really tight games and won one of them.
"Tuesday night was a straightforward arse kicking, but that happens in one-day cricket if you're not accurate against a good team." ? NZPA