Distracted Kiwis touch down for tour

	John Bracewell: not entirely focussed on the job yet © Getty Images

In body, if not in spirit, New Zealand's cricketers last night arrived in England for the start of their three-Test series. Ordinarily, such a tour would represent one of the biggest challenges that any of these players could hope to face - last month, their former captain, Stephen Fleming, recalled his team's 2-1 victory in 1999 as the proudest moment of an illustrious career. But times they are a-changing, and when the coach, John Bracewell, and the stand-in captain, Jamie How, faced the media at Lord's on Thursday afternoon, neither man could quite pretend that they are entirely focused on the job.

Even allowing for the jet-lag, their distraction was hardly surprising. New Zealand's five finest players are scattered to the four corners of the subcontinent, earning life-changing sums of money in the Indian Premier League, and with that in mind, Bracewell seemed more intent on flirting with his former county, Gloucestershire, than discussing his squad's strategy for the summer. How, meanwhile, looked as quizzical as his surname would suggest, as he tried to fathom whether it was an honour or an insult to be lumped with the leadership of such a threadbare unit.

"It's not ideal, but this is the reality of the landscape we live in," said Bracewell. His players take on an MCC side captained by Chris Cairns at Arundel, on Sunday, and then decamp to Canterbury for a three-day match against Kent. Only then will their superstars deign to make an appearance - one of whom, Brendon McCullum, has now officially entered the big-time following last week's incredible 158 not out from 73 balls in Bangalore.

Since time immemorial, the success of a touring side has had a direct correlation with the cohesiveness of the players in the squad, but on the face of it, this situation is as divisive as they come. Bracewell, however, insisted his players were mature enough to adapt to cricket's changing world. "All things have the potential to cause friction, but our group understands it," he said. "For us, it's a glass-half-full situation. This brings us into line with New Zealand's rugby players in terms of salaries, and the bottom line is it's our best players who get invited, so it's an incentive-based scheme."

There was a distinct them-and-us vibe in the air, however. "I think everyone wishes they were in India at some point," said How, a touch more candidly than you might expect of a brand-new international captain. His words harboured no pretence as to the importance of his current role, however. Of New Zealand's first-choice eleven from last month's series, two batsmen (Matthew Bell and Mathew Sinclair) have been dropped, another (Fleming) has retired, while five have gone to a higher calling. In fact, of the 13 players in the country, only How, Tim Southee and Chris Martin can realistically expect a place at Lord's on May 15.

No wonder Bracewell wasn't about to get too bombastic with his series predictions. "We're the underdogs," he said. "It'll be hard work for us given our experience, or lack of. We're rebuilding and setting some lines to get over as a team, but in Test cricket England are way ahead of us, and we'll have to work extremely hard to beat them."

When asked if he thought New Zealand play enough Test cricket, Bracewell was unequivocal in his answer. "No," he declared, and he has a point. New Zealand have played just seven Tests in the last 18 months, and two of those came against Bangladesh. "It's an administration thing, in terms of the Future Tours Programme," he said. "We recognise we don't play enough, but we are trying to get more."

But with the advent of the IPL, and the general shake-up that the game is currently undergoing, it's a vain hope. Bracewell cited McCullum's international career as an example of how under-exposed his players are. McCullum has been ever-present in New Zealand's Test side since making his debut in March 2004, yet he has played only 32 matches, which is 14 fewer than Andrew Strauss's tally - in spite of the fact that Strauss's debut came two months later, and that he has, on occasions, missed matches for England.

New Zealand's situation is hardly aided by the amount of learning-on-the-hoof that their players are forced to undergo. "Domestic cricket in New Zealand is not that strong, so our players have got to develop at international level," said Bracewell. "We think the ones we've picked are form players domestically, and they have earned their opportunity. But now we need to see whether they can become not just Black Caps, but great Black Caps. To do that, they need to make some tough sacrifices."

In particular, Bracewell was talking about the Otago batsman, Aaron Redmond, who comes into the reckoning as a replacement for Bell. There are few environments more hostile to a debutant opener that England in May, although Bracewell felt that New Zealanders come better prepared than most. "There's not a heck of a difference," he said. "We're used to playing on wickets that do a bit, and we produce similar sorts of bowlers. We just need to get our skills up, because we can't keep throwing our bowlers out there after only 60-70 overs' rest. They have got to have enough fuel in the tank to get through, and in the last series, they ran out."

On one level at least, Bracewell was clearly looking forward to the tour, but it was perhaps not for the reasons that his team might have hoped. "I really enjoyed the time I had here," he said, recalling his days as Gloucestershire's coach in the early 2000s. "There's a great lifestyle and environment for cricket here, and yes, I'd like to return to county cricket at some stage. There are a lot of options out there for coaches, as well as players, with the opening-up of world cricket." Everyone's eyes seem averted from the immediate task at the moment, but in Bracewell's case, he's not simply gazing towards the IPL.