Cricket: The kiss of life for Bracewell

John Bracewell has been given job security despite the whitewash in Australia. Picture / Greg Bowker

Embattled New Zealand coach John Bracewell has been guaranteed his position until after the 2007 World Cup.

Not quite a year into his job as national coach, Bracewell has come under fire over the performance of a test team who have lost six of their past eight matches, including two humiliating back-to-back defeats against Australia.

However, far from losing confidence in their former test spinner, New Zealand Cricket yesterday revealed that Bracewell's initial two-year contract has been extended to July 2007 to give him time to plan for the next World Cup.

Speaking exclusively to the Herald, NZC chief executive Martin Snedden said it was important that Bracewell had enough job security to prepare for long-term and short-term objectives, something that wasn't possible with a 24-month contract.

"We decided we wanted to back him more and give him the job security he needed to be successful in the position," Snedden said.

"The problem with a two-year cycle is that we often changed for change's sake and ended up getting someone who would just repeat the same old mistakes."

Snedden revealed that Bracewell's contract was extended earlier this year, but was not made public until yesterday, when NZC decided to underline their support and backing for the former Auckland and Gloucester coach.

He said it wasn't helpful that Bracewell was being blamed for the disappointments in Australia, considering the might of the world champion opposition, the lack of playing resources at New Zealand's disposal, and the form of some of the incumbents.

"A coach can only do so much; he's not a miracle worker," Snedden said. "But it's fair to say that this team haven't appeared to cope with the pressure in Australia.

"They've faltered at important times and have clearly lost confidence, but I don't believe that's the coach's fault."

As for solutions to the problems, Snedden said the main issues for his organisation revolved around making sure they had the right personnel for the job and that everyone was moving in the right direction.

"When you're in a bind like this, the key is to be clear about where you're heading and who's taking you there - and NZC are confident on both points.

"We've put our faith in Stephen Fleming and John Bracewell. We believe that they're the best people available to us. They're quality men and we want to stick by them."

Snedden said that if New Zealand wanted to improve and get nearer to the standard of Australia, the bottom line was that they simply had to play them more often.

That at least was likely as the two sides begin the Chappell-Hadlee ODI series on Sunday, Australia visit New Zealand in March and at the end of the year, and New Zealand then venture across the Tasman to contest the VB Series.

"That's a deliberate move on our behalf, because we recognise the need to play a side such as Australia as much as possible," Snedden said.

"We always knew it would be hard work for our team, and that it was risky in terms of results, but the fact remains that it's essential in terms of our development."

However, the NZC boss could think of no compelling reasons as to why Bracewell's ODI results were the polar opposite to his test record, apart from the concern about player depth.

"Braces fine-tuned his one-day game at Gloucester where he had extraordinary success, and in the course of that tenure he developed some very special skills in the one-day game," Snedden said.

"As for the test side of things, I think it's simply a case of our player-depth being exposed.

"We were found out, and our lack of penetration with the ball was particularly noticeable."