Some of that honesty would no doubt be useful to current and future Black Caps opposition. That's what makes it interesting.

There was nothing offensive in that blog at all. Just unedited honesty.

With some swear words.

The PR overlords have got to him

That's not unusual in pro sports. Standard practice for anything these guys write to get put in front of the PR guy first, they probably just didn't know about this blog.

The PR overlords have got to him, and strict censorship in place from now on.. After all, what right have we got to find out what a player really thinks?

I’m really angry about this.

He's back playing for Auckland

Watch for NZC and Auckland Cricket to get into trouble for that.

That’s quite a provocative move with India due here in a few months.

and what's happened to Tuffey? Never seemed to play to his size, but got nice high bounce.

Playing club cricket in Sydney a few months ago I think. 2nd XI or something.

So Bracewell did better than 8th. Good luck to Moles he only has to do better than 5th :).

The new coach Moles has a bit of rebuilding to do with regard to ODIs. On the test front though, the only was is up – we'll be 8th on the…

So devoid of your typical sporting cliches...

Look at this; Iain O’Brien has a blog.

here

Oh, cool, ta.

here

Enjoy it while it lasts; the administocrats in their suits will be bound to be around soon shutting it down.

How often do you see a sportsman / coach with this kind of honesty?

“**NZ vs Aust – Gabba – Day…

Rod Latham, I think?

A favourite story about another of NZ's portly dashers, Richard Reid (1989-91). Picked as a slogger, opening with Martin Crowe, in his first overseas ODI at Sydney he was found out by Alderman and Bruce Reid, scoring 17 in an hour.

After a couple of overs…

but I'm most frustrated by the string of early retirements, guys like Astle and Fleming should still be playing. Poss down to Bracewell,…

The plan at the first match against Australia was for the other opener (Larson?, kinda pudgy guy)

Rod Latham, I think?

It was kind of sad that we spent so many years waiting for him to come back from injury. It always annoyed me…

Greatbatch was almost surreal. He got pushed up to open specifically to whack shit out of it, and he seemed able to do that every game.

Actually he didn't get pushed up for that purpose at all.

The plan at the first match against Australia was for the other opener…

We don't have any players of real international class in the side (we could argue about Vettori),

Yeah Vettori's pretty close. A very respected spinner, very good bat in his 8 position, and a good captain who will likely improve. But we will really miss Flemming in the batting line-up,…

Those floods can be very useful for washing out a test if defeat is otherwise imminent.

Oh, if I could command the weather we'd never lose another test match, no question about that.

My favourite NZ team comes from the time of Coney as player and as captain. During that time we had two players of genuine class (Hadlee and Crowe). The rest of the team would never had been picked in an Australian…

I've made a few of them.

Those floods can be very useful for washing out a test if defeat is otherwise imminent.

That's just not a game a team with Ryan Sidebottom in it should be playing.

Yes, although when our crowds trying to crack jokes about him, the results were bone-chillingly unfunny.

I smell some horrible jokes on that if he's still in charge next time we tour England

That's just not a game a team with Ryan Sidebottom in it should be playing.

I've made a few of them.

Heh – I'm pretty sure that's the last videogame I've ever played.

(Recently I picked up a computer magazine – also the first in 15 years or so – and on the DVD along with the other fluff it had the full version of…

From this moment forward, I only ever intend to make populous decisions.

I've made a few of them.

It's not about going with the populous decision it is about going with the right decision and Brendon McCullum is a class act.

From this moment forward, I only ever intend to make populous decisions.

New coach for BLACK CAPS

Well, that was quick. Mott only pulled away from the poisoned chalice this morning.

Could this be because of the coaching/management stifling his natural game, or is it because he is not quite capable of making the necessary step-up to test level?

I had so…

If he'd had some sort of hard-wiring which only allowed him to play in the V, he might have scored slower, but his average would be over 40 I'm sure.

It's actually a couple of decimal points over :-O

Fleming was the total enigma though- maybe he ultimately sacrificed becoming a world class player to become a world-class captain

Spot on.

Fleming, for most of his career, sacrificed himself by batting higher than he should have (he even got test centuries opening) for the sake of his team.

Something…

If we're being totally honest, since the retirement of Crowe, NZ has only had three genuinely world class players- Bond, Vettori and Cairns.

No specialist batsman, which probably makes all the difference.

Three world-class players in 10 odd years might not sound that many, but – without doing any analysis…

If he'd had some sort of hard-wiring which only allowed him to play in the V, he might have scored slower, but his average would be over 40 I'm sure.

The thing that annoyed me most about Fleming is that sometimes he'd…

Yeah. Fleming, the world class player who never quite showed it. Oram the world class player who breaks when playing the game. Bond, the world class player who hardly ever, and now maybe never will, play.

Richardson was good though. Only really a good test player, not ODIs, which is…

NZ has only had three genuinely world class players- Bond, Vettori and Cairns

Yeah. Fleming, the world class player who never quite showed it. Oram the world class player who breaks when playing the game. Bond, the world class player who hardly ever, and now maybe never will, play.

Richardson…

I love our team, I love NZ cricket and I love test matches. I just wish we'd stop putting dashers like Ryder and McCullum in test matches where you need real batsmen. It does them no credit and it really doesn't help us compete.

We've been too deeply affected by…

That 1992 World Cup was great.

But.

It’s also got a lot to answer for. It resulted in 10 years of preparing home pitches that were slow, lifeless and built for Gavin Larsen and Chris Harris.

It also set in motion the complete focus of cricket administrators and coaches in…

But.

It’s also got a lot to answer for. It resulted in 10 years of preparing home pitches that were slow, lifeless and built for Gavin Larsen and Chris Harris.

It also set in motion the complete focus of cricket administrators and coaches in…

I think you guys could have a delightful bromance...

I'm just glad you didn't say "playdate"

Note I really do think McCullum and Ryder are amazing talents, but I also think they need a good coach to get them to play the right role at the right time.

It may also be a straightforward lack of personnel. If memory serves, Ryder domestically has a much better…

Fortunately, I figured out that Hadyn wasn't staring at Chris Cairns' tight pants.

I cannot speak for Haydn's proclivities.

Soon we will have a real coach that can tell the McCullums of the world to STFU and bat at No.7 like a proper keeper. And explain to our No3 that…

... but I vote for us sending McCullum…

I don't wake up well.

I know its old, but this story is a classic on the perils of waking up to strange things in the bedroom.

People might suggest it's the colour of the ball that makes the difference, personally that makes only slightly more sense than the colour of the clothing.

Okay, this is coming from a guy whose only exposure to cricket before 1997 was via The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, but... it's…

the magnificent craig mcdermott, who i have just discovered has been a bit of a bad boy

I like how that Wikipedia page has a graph of his batting average in the section on his bankruptcy. If you don't read the graph closely it could easily be his financial up-…

I know it's not quite as simple as that, but I vote for us sending McCullum and Ryder out to open the…

and the magnificent craig mcdermott, who i have just discovered has been a bit of a bad boy

Where would cricket be without sex scandals? One of the reasons I used to really loathe Shane Warne was his ability to take four hundred-odd wickets in his brief breaks from Olympic-level…

Send him my way. I can endlessly talk American sports.

What with the American sports and the Rock Band thing, I think you guys could have a delightful bromance...

Who wants to kick this team when they're down? For a start your leg would get really tired.

Superb.

I think I need to assert my cricket fandom more in our household. I've gradually been overwhelmed by the sheer volume of NFL NBA MLB coverage. This summer, I shall make a stand!

Send him my way. I can endlessly talk American sports.

At least we've fixed that problem where our tail-enders were making half our runs

Nice:

No Cricket Goth there.

I call the mentality 'Cricket Goth'.

Love it.

And, for the purists, the fact that test results are so much worse than the other forms of the game rubs it in.

The purists ought to know that it's easier to produce good one day…

he will have to listen to the comforting gentle drone of test match commentators as I putter about in the kitchen... I feel warm and pleasant just thinking about it.

Kerry O'Kiefe's laugh aside, there is something very pleasant about the sound of (non Martin Crowe) cricket commentary, especially for…

One of the few thrills from the first test was seeing if Chris Martin was going to get that one more test duck to take the record off Danny Morrison.