Dylan Cleaver: Making a (very sketchy) case for Macca

A thousand cricketers around the country had John Bracewell to thank yesterday for erasing their failures.

"Not my fault," they would have said to their glaring captains as they returned to the pavilion after making one reckless swish too many. "It's my role."

Last week John Bracewell revealed to a previously misinformed public and, more pointedly, media, that Craig McMillan's run of awful form in the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy was due to his role in the team.

As the calls went out for Macca's head, Bracewell launched a stirring defence of his under-fire batsman.

He is a floating hitter, Bracewell explained, an expendable batsman that the new substitute rule allows. His failures don't actually hurt the team unit.

Just as you're about to become seduced by the 'logic' of that explanation, reality hits you between the eyes like a bouncer you never saw coming.

A batting role that doesn't necessarily require you to score runs. It must be the easiest $2500-per-game that McMillan's ever made.

And, unless my interpretation of the rules is incorrect, are you not still allowed just 11 batsmen per innings, whether one of them is a 'floater' or not? So surely losing one cheaply most times is, if not hurtful, then at least unhelpful.

Or is this just another one of those cases of dreaded misinformation?

McMillan is not alone in his failings but as always he is the first to have the finger pointed at him. It might not be fair but an average of 27 after 175 one-day internationals is going to do that for you.

Bracewell has been around long enough to realise that failure to reach 20 in your last six innings is going to invite scrutiny from the lowly media, whether we know what's going on in the inner sanctum, unit of trust, collective of cricketers or whatever it is that we used to refer simply to as a team.

If the media, or the public, fails to easily accept 4-0 series losses to South Africa, or eight losses in a row to Australia, that's not "outside rubbish contaminating" the team, but a perfectly natural reaction to under-achievement.

Mark Richardson, who has played with McMillan and under Bracewell, said they are both similar creatures who fight and lash out when they're cornered. Perhaps they need to find the right targets.

For years McMillan used criticism as fuel to launch some of his finest innings. It's why he's usually been a safe bet to score runs just when his position seems untenable.

That's why it was doubly surprising to see McMillan poke around like a novice in the dead-rubber victory against Australia.

Perhaps that's all the evidence you need to think it really might be time for Bracewell to cut the rope and let him float away, not up and down the order.

Bracewell was not the only coach making curious comments during the week.

Just when you thought it was impossible to resist the batting charms of one Jesse Ryder, his provincial coach tells us he's not actually all that good yet.

Well, Vaughn Johnson didn't actually say that, but he might as well have.

"There is a lot of talk about Jesse Ryder at the moment but I think the guy needs to be left alone to have another season of domestic cricket... he's only a kid and he hasn't got much of a domestic one-day record," Johnson recently told the Dominion-Post.

Quite what Ryder, a diplomatic soul these days, made of the comments is anybody's guess. But as the left-hander had launched easily the most compelling case for Black Caps selection from those outside the current squad, Johnson has given the selectors an easy out.

And given Macca another chance.