Snedden asks for rational analysis of defeat

Martin Snedden, the chief executive of New Zealand Cricket, has insisted that the board will conduct a rational analysis of the team's performance in England, rather than jump to hasty conclusions.

According to a report in The Press, a New Zealand daily, Snedden said: "We must look at this rationally and methodically rather than reacting too quickly. The thoughts you get from the heat of the battle are often different to those you get a few weeks later with some time for things to sink in.

"Because it is an England tour people seem more intensely interested in it than perhaps going to the subcontinent. I can understand people reacting emotionally to the losses and that's good because they have a passion for the game." New Zealand were thrashed three-nil in the recently concluded Test series, and have lost five of their last eight Tests.

The media in New Zealand have been especially critical of the decision to send only a 14-man squad for the Test series. Two of the bowlers in that line-up, Shane Bond and Daryl Tuffey, weren't completely fit when they left for England, prompting critics to suggest that back-ups for them should have been ready. However, Snedden dismissed that factor being one of the reasons for the defeat. "People have latched onto the squad number and the injury issue but no-one has been able to establish a plausible link between them costing the team those matches."

What also irked many experts was the decision to send six support staff with the line-up, but Snedden explained that he was satisfied by the explanation provided by John Bracewell, the coach, for the composition of the squad. "He [Bracewell] believed there was enough cover and depth in most areas except perhaps the spin bowling," Snedden said. "But he reasoned that conditions early season in England do not favour spinners. While several players were over in England, like James Franklin and Mathew Sinclair, it was arguable whether Wiseman was required.

"Even with the 14 players Kyle Mills had little match play because there was only three first-class games before the first Test, so what would the 15th have been doing?

"The situation with Shane Bond was that we believed it would be better to have him on the tour than staying at home in winter. We hoped in a best-case scenario he might play the second and third Tests and were moving in that direction until he sustained the setback in the last county game before the first Test. Then we just ran out of time."

Bracewell subsequently blamed the pitches for the debacle, but Snedden had a more straightforward explanation. "As hard as it is for us to accept, sometimes our players don't perform to their best and the opposition plays better."