NZC chief backs under-fire Bracewell

Despite New Zealand's poor results since the tour of South Africa, coach John Bracewell has the support of New Zealand Cricket chief Justin Vaughan to keep his job at least until his two-year contract expires in June 2009.

New Zealand were beaten 2-0 in the Tests against South Africa, lost the one-off Twenty20 international and the one-dayers 2-1, before going down 2-0 to Australia in the three-match Chappell-Hadlee series. Despite recording just the solitary win in nine matches, Vaughan said Bracewell and the team would have a chance to redeem themselves in the home series against Bangladesh and England.

"He's under no more pressure than when he started [four years ago]," Vaughan told the Dominion Post. "But we've just played two difficult sides. The results were disappointing but we expect that to improve now. He's got two home series against Bangladesh and England now, which we should win."

The team's performance aside, Bracewell was under fire for his comments directed at the Australians. Bracewell claimed he had inside information on why wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist was rested for the third one-dayer in Hobart before personally apologising to him for being misleading. Earlier, he had also questioned fast bowler Shaun Tait's bowling action.

However, Vaughan was prepared to overlook those comments and let the on-field results speak for itself. "If we are winning, the image takes care of itself," Vaughan said.

Another contentious issue was the decision to send batting coach Mark O'Neill home after the Tests in South Africa and replace him with Travis Wilson, a fielding specialist. The batting was primarily responsible for the series defeat but Vaughan explained that O'Neill was required back in New Zealand.

"I don't know the full answer to that, it was a decision made by Lindsay Crocker [team manager] and Braces [Bracewell]," Vaughan said. "I'm sure they'd love to have Mark O'Neill with them all the time but he also has to be at home working with our emerging talent. I would also question the amount to which they can change technically during a tour like this and I'm sure there is contact between the batsmen and him anyway."

Vaughan is expected to have a meeting with Bracewell in the near future. John Wright, the former New Zealand captain, now the NZC's high performance manager, is expected to attend as well. Vaughan said Wright will be involved with the team during the home series and be of assistance to Bracewell.

"It will be easier for him to buzz in and buzz out given we are playing at home," Vaughan said. "It makes sense to have your high performance manager on hand, helping Braces when he can."