Doing the little things right, the Bracewell way

Getting the little things right in order to maximise the opportunity for victory is already shaping as a significant ploy in John Bracewell's time at the coaching helm of the New Zealand side.

He took up his position on November 1, and while the side is overseas in the hands of stand-in coach Ashley Ross, Bracewell has been left to monitor progress through a "22-inch screen" and it presents a vision too narrow for someone who sees cricket as a more holistic game.

The month in the job while the team is overseas has been useful for him. While it is possible to keep in touch with the international players, he has been able to use the annual Academy programme to familiarise himself with players at the next level below the internationals.

That has demonstrated that there is talent available in those lower resources, an excitement in itself, and an indication of developing depth which should be ready to explode onto the scene in the next few years. But ability and selection hunches will be backed by other demands

Team selection would not be just about being able to hit, or bowl, a ball. Ability to deal with the team's culture would be just as much a part of it.

Bracewell said: "I remember when they started a Tennis Academy in Auckland, the first thing they did was send the kids to South America to see how they handled it. It was a test of how they adapted to foreign conditions, how they handled the travel, and how they reacted to a different culture. It was a very good way of finding out. Some kids are just homeboys, some don't like flying while others just thrive."

And there's some new idiom about to enter the sporting lexicon in New Zealand. For starters more will be heard about the 'one percenters'. That's the little things in the game that can make all the difference to the final outcome. In this instance while we were speaking it was a batsman standing at the bowler's end holding his bat in his wrong hand and his batting gloves in the other. The coach's observation was that the batsman wouldn't be able to turn properly, he would be blind so he wouldn't give himself the optimum chance of successfully completing his runs.

That, and other things about the game needed to be tidied up because, while they were little things, they were the 1% that gave you the slight edge. That could be the difference between winning and losing.

Bracewell is well versed in the requirements to change New Zealand's one-day fortunes. It was the basis of his success with Gloucestershire.

"It is about taking complete ownership of your role, or roles, the burying of personal egos toward your own advancement and being someone who perfects winning a game. It is about set pieces and doing them well, protecting your area and about working for your team-mates off the ball. It is the same as rugby. There are a series of set pieces and it is a case of recognising the phase the team is in. Then it is about having the ability to control that phase and then breaking out from that position.

"It is about being adaptable, once you have nailed your case. And adaptability is probably the most important thing. It is mechanical, it is almost Americanised."

At Gloucestershire it was something he had to sell to the team. It had never won the championship and with Courtney Walsh taking more than 100 wickets they had finished fourth, in Bracewell's first season. They had more outright victories than before in a season, but they were happy with fourth place. Walsh had given the side a façade to hide behind and they hadn't maximised their chances.

Bracewell realised he would have to create a winning mentality, something the club hadn't had in 130 years, this despite being home to some of the game's greatest players - W G Grace, Gilbert Jessop, Walter Hammond, Tom Graveney. An analysis of how best to approach this resulted in settling for a great team without great individuals. With four competitions, three of them one-day competitions, it made sense to give themselves three chances out of four to win something.

"Ownership gives incentive. The players were spending time individually and as a group and achieving which they took pride in. They lifted heavier weights and changed their body shapes and that got them in better condition while also lifting their self-esteem. A bonus system was introduced which was based on the team rather than the individual.

"It was satisfying and frustrating. Satisfying because the players were buying into it and dedicating themselves really well, and that was led by the senior players. The average age of the side when we started was 23, now it is 28, and they are in their most productive years. Jack Russell, the former England wicketkeeper, brought into it and Mark Alleyne, the captain, had incredible on-field intelligence. The frustration was in controlling egos."

Unfortunately, the team's success did not have the spin-off of more players being selected for internationals, and that left Bracewell feeling almost as if he had been dishonest with the players. As for the four-day competition it was a case of having one chance in 18 of winning, which is the hardest cricket competition in the world to win. And it was a situation where resources were not evenly shared so that his budget at Gloucestershire was nothing like that at Surrey.

But with New Zealand, on the international stage, the prize is greater, and the incentive higher. The Bracewell era will soon be underway.