Paul Lewis: The mission - Save cricket

Daniel Vettori. Photo / Hawke's Bay Today

Next moves for New Zealand cricket are mightily important.

The game in this country seems poised on a knife edge of indifference and disappointment - and few will have taken comfort from the latest words of Black Caps skipper Daniel Vettori.

Nor will fans greet with much confidence the bold response of New Zealand Cricket - to set up a committee.

In today's paper, we reveal moves from within the team seeking the removal as selectors of Vettori and batting coach Mark Greatbatch.

Even that could be throwing a PR bone to the hounds as it is difficult to see their influence as selectors diminish, especially on tour.

Ushered into a position of unprecedented power and influence, Vettori's reign took a decided lurch towards the plughole after that 4-0 whitewash in Bangladesh.

He had been installed as captain, chief selector and de facto coach before the curious appointment of Greatbatch to a position that seems to be, as the English say, all mouth and no trousers.

Yet Vettori has made few advances over the administration of jettisoned coach Andy Moles - and has turned in arguably New Zealand's worst ever ODI series.

Vettori remains a gutsy, thinking cricketer. But serious consideration must now be given to relieving him of some of his duties and power.

There is no question he is feeling the strain. He called on his players to accept personal responsibility for the Bangladesh disaster. He was quoted: "...everyone in the team knows how poor the results were and hopefully they're committed to trying to turn it around". Hopefully?

"We didn't learn from our mistakes and we didn't adapt to the conditions," Vettori told Radio Sport.

"Particularly our play of left-arm spin bowling left a lot to be desired...". Uh, Vettori is one of the best left-arm spinners in the world. Doesn't he bowl in the nets? The Black Caps couldn't get it right after four games?

The skipper also considered the structures and systems around the team to be an irrelevance: "...it is up to the players to step up and make sure they're part of a winning team. That is my responsibility as captain, it ends with me as captain, I have to be in charge of a team which is winning games.

"We have had other systems in place, we tried other things when John Bracewell was the head coach and people revolted against that. Now people are starting to question my role as well. If we get caught up in the systems we will go nowhere."

So all we have to do is make sure the players play well. Uh, but Dan ... they're not, are they? In fact, they're playing crap; not looking like a team. Some of what was seen in Bangladesh bordered on the incompetent. It's all very well, apparently, to change the systems when Bracewell and Moles were involved but not now.

Roger Mortimer is essentially a high performance director and as smart as a whip - but there sure ain't much high performance going on.

Things won't be fixed by removing Vettori as captain or deep-sixing either Mortimer (a proven performer with the likes of Sarah Ulmer) or Greatbatch.

But here's a few things fans are saying about the Black Caps: they are soft, cossetted professionals, certain of a fat pay cheque no matter how poorly they play; they don't give a sweaty batter's box about cricket except for fat-cat IPL stuff; they have lost the hard core, fighting spirit of yester-year.

In other words, cricketers in this country are far too well off to be moved any more by playing low-rent fixtures against unfashionable opponents like Bangladesh.

If the cricketers themselves can't be stuffed stirring from the comfy couch of complacency, why should the fans? Cricket in this country can't afford that.

The game already receives publicity and coverage far beyond its depth and, arguably, appeal. Much more of this 'Black Craps' business could see support disappear fast. That's why the next steps are so important.

If Vettori, a committed and proud cricketer, can't stimulate his charges to perform, surely it's time to start composing a piece for the Want Ads.

Already, in the tour to India next month, few papers are sending sportswriters. Radio is sending a reporter but no commentators, as they do not want to pay the vast Indian fees. In these budget-conscious days in a tightened news media, few editors and accountants see the Black Caps as essential.

No, or few, media means another comfortable ride for the Black Caps unlike, for example, the All Blacks, whose every move is scrutinised.

Cricket here is already cast in the backwaters of a game now controlled by the Asian bloc - which sees us infrequently matched against the best in the world and all too often against the same old foes. It is a recipe for indifference; for a slow spiral round the bowl.

So what to do? Last week the Herald on Sunday ran a piece outlining that Stephen Fleming and coach Steve Rixon would not reprise their successful stint with the national team.

That kind of captain-coach dovetail is sorely needed rather than resting control in one man, no matter how capable. The Vettori system does not appear to be working.

If this was a football team, you'd suspect he'd lost the dressing room.

We need a coach who can accommodate Vettori's wishes but call his own shots, as with Fleming and Rixon.

Citing football's Brian Clough is probably a bad example, as even fervent supporters admitted he was a bit touched. But I always liked Cloughie's quote: "I wouldn't say I was the best coach in the world but I'm in the top one."

Can we have one of them? If not from New Zealand then overseas? Please? Before it's too late.