Cricket: Hadlee and Snedden to clear the air

Selection issues arising from the World Cup campaign will be thrashed out between New Zealand Cricket chief executive Martin Snedden and selection panel chairman Sir Richard Hadlee.

Hadlee was in South Africa while the tournament was on, and was involved in team selections, which is unusual when New Zealand teams are on tour.

Snedden said in Christchurch yesterday that he wanted to discuss some of the "interesting" decisions with Hadlee, probably referring to the tinkering of the top-order batting and the pace bowling options as the tournament unfolded.

Many were puzzled with the nursing of Nathan Astle at No 3 and fiddling between spin bowler Daniel Vettori and the battling Craig McMillan opening the innings.

Also, New Zealand's bowling at the end of the innings often left much to be desired.

Snedden said some of the changes happened after his return home from watching the first week's matches.

"I just want to talk to Richard and get a clearer picture," he said.

"I will be sitting down with Denis Aberhart [coach] and Stephen Fleming [captain] to put everything in context."

Snedden said Hadlee and his panel, comprising Aberhart, Ross Dykes and Brian McKechnie, had taken calculated risks in the past which had often been successful.

"Take Shane Bond, for instance. And Brendon McCullum was returned after failing in Australia and I thought he had a really good tournament behind the stumps.

"But selectors can also make mistakes and we will look into it," Snedden said.

He said Hadlee was attending the tournament as one of the International Cricket Council's ambassadors, so it made sense for him to be involved with game-by-game selections.

Snedden said he would not be pressed into knee-jerk comments about the Black Caps' disappointing end to their Super Six campaign when they were bundled out after losses to Australia and India last week.

"A more significant issue is that most of the time we played our best team with our No 1 players, but not enough stepped up to the level required to go further.

"Bond did, and Fleming did. Cairns has been criticised, but he actually quite often played a steadying role to take us away from potentially dangerous spots."

The jobs of the selectors, coach and manager come up for renewal after the tour to Sri Lanka, which starts next month.

"After the Sri Lankan tour we will assess things and go through a process. The team at test match level has done well, ranking No 3 [in tests], but at one-day level remains inconsistent."

Snedden felt New Zealand's 50-50 record against the other test-playing nations was "not a disaster but still frustrating. Four other test-playing nations went home before us."

For Snedden, the defining moment in the tournament came when, with Australia at 84 for seven, the Black Caps were unable to finish the job.

While the early-season player strike and bowler-friendly pitches against India were factors leading into the tournament, he did not believe they were instrumental in New Zealand's exit.

- NZPA

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