Cricket: Big-name players frustrate Bracewell

John Bracewell is still waiting for his established and more experienced players to stand up and take responsibility against Australia.

While attention has focused on the most vulnerable players following New Zealand's 87-run loss against Australia on Saturday night, the New Zealand coach is in no doubt that the buck should stop with his more senior members.

Australia's win, forged on the back of a record unbeaten sixth-wicket stand of 136 between Michael Clarke and Michael Hussey and a superb effort in the field, condemned New Zealand to their first series loss at home since January 2001.

But with two games to go before the start of the test series, Bracewell is desperate for his team to rediscover their equilibrium in time for tomorrow's fourth ODI at Wellington and the final match in Napier on Saturday.

Apart from trying to find replacement players for the latest walking wounded, his biggest challenge is trying to improve the productivity of players such as Stephen Fleming and Chris Cairns.

Fleming, dismissed on Saturday night for the sixth time in his career by Brett Lee, is caught in the middle of a disconcertingly lean trot, having scored just seven runs in the series so far at 2.33.

Cairns, expected to pose a threat to Australia's bowling attack, has proved just as inert.

Over the course of three ODIs against Australia he has strung together scores of 0, 22 and 12 for an average of just 11.33.

The veteran all-rounder looked a mere shadow of himself with the bat at Eden Park on Saturday, when he struggled to read chinaman bowler Brad Hogg, played a flurry of air-shots and ended up running out Hamish Marshall - the team's top scorer.

Bracewell said yesterday that the dilemma was to find a solution from within the present player resources in the limited time available.

But he said dropping players like Fleming or Cairns simply wasn't an option.

"These guys know all about their responsibilities, they're acutely aware of the need to put their hands up, but they're not in danger of being dropped," he said.

"We know they're the best players we've got, and we know they're going to give us the best chance of doing well against Australia, so it's important to support them and try to help them succeed.

"It's silly to suggest we should get rid of them, because we know they're better than anyone that could replace them."

But Bracewell said he fully agreed with the mission statement of the senior players' management group, which effectively stated that the more established team members had to shoulder the greater responsibility.

"They know it, I know it, we all know that it's up to them," he said. "You can't leave this sort of thing up to the young, inexperienced rookies."

The one senior player leading by example is vice-captain Daniel Vettori, who has stood out as his team's best bowler, while also making a useful contribution with the bat at Christchurch.

Nathan Astle made 65 in the first ODI and has not been quite as bad as Fleming or Cairns.

But for someone who's scored a total of 14 ODI centuries for his country, his form remains unconvincing.

Bracewell said it was a difficult time for the entire side after losing the series in three straight games, but believed the silver lining was the fact that the team were learning from their errors and gathering useful information.

"We know three consecutive losses isn't great, and the last two have been a bit rough, but we're definitely finding out a few things about ourselves," he said.

"And I'd rather be finding this sort of thing out now, than a couple of months before the World Cup."