Cricket: Bracewell puts his hand up

Black Caps coach John Bracewell. Picture / Reuters

Coach John Bracewell says he expects to be held accountable after New Zealand suffered another crushing loss at the hands of Australia yesterday, extending the team's dreadful test record under his watch.

The man brought in to revitalise the national side sat quietly in the players' area yesterday as Australia marched to victory by 213 runs.

Resuming at 149 for five, New Zealand lost overnight batsmen Jacob Oram and Brendon McCullum inside the first 10 overs, and were eventually dismissed just after lunch for 250, with no sign of the forecast showers.

It ended one of New Zealand's worst-performed test series abroad, on a par with their whitewash against the English last winter, and not far off that hapless visit to Australia in the summer of 1993-94, when they lost the second and third tests by an innings.

A salient point is that, of the New Zealand specialist batsmen, only Nathan Astle managed to top 100 runs in four innings.

Opener Mark Richardson averaged 12 for the series, Mathew Sinclair and Scott Styris averaged less than 20, and Fleming totalled just 97 runs, despite scoring 83 in one knock.

Bracewell, who - apart from the gimme against Bangladesh - has now overseen a series loss against Pakistan, a missed opportunity against South Africa, a 3-0 pounding in England and a humiliating drubbing in Australia.

He said he had not read the newspapers back home, but expected to be criticised.

"I have to accept the fact that there is an accountability process," Bracewell said after the test ended. "The facts are that we have just lost two tests in a row, which is disappointing.

"But it doesn't distract me from my core purpose and responsibility, which is preparing a side, and preparing the individuals within the side."

Bracewell said the Adelaide result wasn't the best example, but that his team had often gone walkabout on the third day of a test match, as had been demonstrated in the losses against Pakistan, South Africa and England.

He said the team management were looking at the problem, but didn't want to make too much of it in case it became a negative influence in the players' minds.

However, the New Zealand coach bridled at suggestions that his squad were soft, saying it would be wrong to tar the entire party with the same brush.

"Just because some players might have appeared weak, it doesn't mean everyone is, and it would be wrong to assume that." New Zealand skipper Stephen Fleming said it was one of the most comprehensive defeats he had been involved with.

That was quite a statement considering he played in the 1994-95 test that the West Indies won by an innings and 322, and in the 2002 test at Lahore, when Pakistan won by an innings and 324.

"Australia bowled magnificently throughout," Fleming said.

"We're incredibly disappointed, but we have to be realistic about how well the opposition bowled. It was like facing three Richard Hadlees and the world's best leg-spinner."

Fleming said there was a need to investigate the performance, but added that it was important the players didn't become too depressed or disillusioned, considering the upcoming series against Sri Lanka and the reciprocal tour from Australia.

"We have to be professional about it."

"Am I concerned? Absolutely I am ... we have to look at it, work out a way of improving, and move on."