Cricket: Hadlee hits out on injuries - and Wiseman

By RICHARD BOOCK

Only 48 hours after passing the peace-pipe, Sir Richard Hadlee and David Trist are again at loggerheads, this time over the reasons behind the New Zealand cricketers alarming injury toll.

In a double-barrelled attack, convener of selectors Hadlee yesterday described the raft of injuries as an embarrassment to his panel, questioned whether the players were being honest about their fitness, and also took a swipe at the tour management for their reluctance to play offspinner Paul Wiseman.

However, speaking from Victoria Falls last night, coach Trist dismissed the suggestion that players had not been honest about their level of fitness, and said that with the exception of Dion Nash, the squad had been hit by a series of random injuries.

"We always knew Dion was a 50-50 proposition," he said.

"But the other injuries were impossible to predict and incredibly frustrating for the team and the medical staff here because we've really been taking every precaution.

"Daniel Vettori was symptom-free when he arrived, Chris Nevin underwent a vigorous fitness test before he came over, Chris Cairns' knee flared up, Matt Horne broke his hand, Craig Spearman gashed his leg and we've had illnesses affecting Stephen Fleming and Chris Harris.

"It's a hell of a nuisance but if we're being reasonable I don't think any of the problems - apart from Nash - could have been predicted."

Hadlee, who at the weekend pledged to improve his communication with Trist, said yesterday that New Zealand Cricket officials would demand more honesty from players about their fitness, as the present situation in Africa "doesn't make us look good."

He said the selectors were in a position to make decisions only based on what they were told by the players and the NZC medical staff, but suggested that in the future, individuals should be confronted and questioned about their fitness.

"You have to sit down with the players and ask them. You have to hope they're being honest and not just trying to beat the system, get tours and get paid," he said.

"At the end of the day, the players are brought down to the high-performance centre, where the medical panel and fitness instructors assess them before giving them the green light.

"They are superb people [the medical team] and the calls they make on the tests are accurate, but if a player is keeping something back then I guess they're trying to bluff the system."

In his first term as convener, Hadlee stressed he was not pointing the finger at anyone in particular, but was anxious to avoid any sort of repetition in future tours, because "it has been embarrassing for everyone, clearly disappointing."

He said NZC operations manager John Reid would talk to the players when they returned from South Africa.

Hadlee also professed to being puzzled about the tour opportunities provided to Wiseman, who was man-of-the-match in the first test at Bulawayo, almost an afterthought in the second, and then not picked in the three ODIs.

"Bearing in mind that Vettori is out and Wiseman is now our No 1 spinner it seems a bit strange," he said. "The guy's a matchwinner in one game, isn't bowled enough in the next and then isn't used at all in the ODIs.

"It's a selection matter and is out of our control, although I do talk to Trist and express a point of view," he said.

"But at the end of the day, they are the people on tour, they know the conditions, the players, the form, the fitness and the opposition.

"Therefore they make the final decision."