Figures outline job ahead of Bracewell

As new coach John Bracewell ponders the direction the New Zealanders take over the next few years, he would do well to ponder on performance statistics from the last summer.

Extending from the International Cricket Council's Champions Trophy tournament through until the completion of the Sri Lankan tour, and success in the Bank Alfalah Cup tri-series, the figures are revealing.

It must be acknowledged that the Test season was an unusual one this year, based on the fact that only two home Tests were played, and two away Tests. However, it is significant that two batsmen, Stephen Fleming and Mark Richardson, the two most mature players called on during the season were far out in front of other players in the side.

Building New Zealand's Test run-scoring potential has to be a priority for the demanding season that lies ahead. It is an indictment of the summer that the only century scored was that by Fleming in his 274 not out against Sri Lanka.

Similarly, in a season when 22 one-day internationals were played, only three centuries were scored. That number needs to be lifted significantly each season if New Zealand are to improve their success rate. Fleming again highlighted the success of his season by easily heading the list for most runs scored with his 642. But apart from him, and Scott Styris who scored 505 runs, the next highest run scorer was Chris Cairns with 359 runs.

That is insufficient for a team attempting to be competitive.

The Test bowling figures show the value Daryl Tuffey, Jacob Oram and Shane Bond enjoyed during the Indian series were conditions were made to suit. Tuffey and Oram took 15 wickets each, with their averages being 15.33 and 15.86 respectively.

It is amazing to think that in four Test matches Daniel Vettori only bowled 39 overs, and took but three wickets.

It was encouraging in the one-day sphere to see that of the bowlers who bowled more than 100 overs in ODIs during the year that Vettori (3.33), Tuffey (3.80), Oram (3.85), Kyle Mills (3.86) and Bond (3.98) were each below the economy rate mark of four runs per over while the only other bowler with more than 100 overs, Styris had an economy rate of 4.11.

That has to be a good starting point from which to push on in the future.

The statistics were:

Tests:

Batting             Mat    I  NO  Runs   HS     Ave     SR 100 50   Ct St
SP Fleming            4    7   2   454  274*  90.80  44.50   1  1    7  -
MH Richardson         4    8   2   345   89   57.50  35.56   -  4    2  -
JDP Oram              4    7   1   171   74   28.50  45.96   -  1    3  -
PJ Wiseman            2    3   1    52   29   26.00  36.36   -  -    -  -
SB Styris             4    7   0   142   63   20.28  39.44   -  1    4  -
MJ Horne              2    4   0    74   42   18.50  36.27   -  -    -  -
NJ Astle              2    3   0    55   41   18.33  57.89   -  -    2  -
DL Vettori            4    5   0    89   55   17.80  67.93   -  1    -  -
L Vincent             2    4   1    45   21*  15.00  31.03   -  -    2  -
SE Bond               4    4   3    13   10*  13.00  44.82   -  -    -  -
DR Tuffey             4    4   1    38   15   12.66  50.66   -  -    4  -
RG Hart               4    7   1    72   31   12.00  25.99   -  -   10  -
CD McMillan           2    3   0    31   18   10.33  48.43   -  -    2  -
MS Sinclair           2    4   0    21   17    5.25  24.70   -  -    1  -

Bowling Mat O M R W Ave Best 5 10 SR Econ DR Tuffey 4 96 33 230 15 15.33 4-12 - - 38.4 2.39 JDP Oram 4 98.5 25 238 15 15.86 4-41 - - 39.5 2.40 SE Bond 4 115.1 29 390 17 22.94 4-33 - - 40.6 3.38 NJ Astle 2 11 4 27 1 27.00 1-13 - - 66.0 2.45 SB Styris 4 16 0 90 3 30.00 3-28 - - 32.0 5.62 DL Vettori 4 39 9 105 3 35.00 3-94 - - 78.0 2.69 PJ Wiseman 2 82.3 21 251 6 41.83 4-104 - - 82.5 3.04

One-Day Internationals:

Batting             Mat    I  NO  Runs   HS     Ave     SR 100 50   Ct St
SB Styris            19   18   3   505  141   33.66  76.51   1  1   11  -
SP Fleming           22   22   2   642  134*  32.10  66.39   1  2   18  -
MS Sinclair          10    9   1   234   78   29.25  53.66   -  2    2  -
NJ Astle             14   14   2   341  102*  28.41  80.42   1  2    5  -
CL Cairns            16   15   2   359   54   27.61  79.07   -  1    5  -
CZ Harris            16   14   5   215   38*  23.88  59.88   -  -    5  -
CJ Nevin              5    5   0    93   28   18.60  54.38   -  -    1  -
L Vincent            16   15   3   222   53*  18.50  49.11   -  1    8  -
AR Adams             12    8   1   128   36   18.28 113.27   -  -    1  -
SE Bond              14    7   3    70   31*  17.50 100.00   -  -    4  -
JDP Oram             17   10   2   139   30   17.37  56.96   -  -    4  -
BB McCullum          19   13   4   152   47*  16.88  56.50   -  -   38  1
CD McMillan          10   10   0   156   75   15.60  67.53   -  1    3  -
KD Mills             13    8   2    86   23*  14.33  50.29   -  -    4  -
DL Vettori           20   10   3    97   16*  13.85  59.87   -  -    6  -
DR Tuffey            15    8   1    29   11    4.14  63.04   -  -    2  -
PJ Wiseman            1    1   0     2    2    2.00  66.66   -  -    -  -
PA Hitchcock          3    2   2     4    2*    -   200.00   -  -    1  -

Bowling Mat O M R W Ave Best 4w 5w SR Econ PA Hitchcock 3 16 0 68 4 17.00 3-30 - - 24.0 4.25 JDP Oram 17 150.2 21 579 34 17.02 5-26 1 1 26.5 3.85 SE Bond 14 121 15 482 28 17.21 6-23 1 1 25.9 3.98 AR Adams 12 97.2 7 492 25 19.68 5-22 2 1 23.3 5.05 DR Tuffey 15 131.5 18 500 23 21.73 3-32 - - 34.3 3.79 NJ Astle 14 21 1 94 4 23.50 3-34 - - 31.5 4.47 SB Styris 19 100.3 11 413 16 25.81 2-23 - - 37.6 4.10 CL Cairns 16 8 0 54 2 27.00 2-16 - - 24.0 6.75 PJ Wiseman 1 6 0 27 1 27.00 1-27 - - 36.0 4.50 DL Vettori 20 148.3 14 494 18 27.44 4-14 1 - 49.5 3.32 KD Mills 13 108.4 10 419 15 27.93 3-45 - - 43.4 3.85 CZ Harris 16 80 5 302 5 60.40 1-6 - - 96.0 3.77 CD McMillan 10 2 1 4 0 - - - - - 2.00