Coach should follow captain after semi-final loss

Crowe says Bracewell should resign

AFP

April 25, 2007

John Bracewell oversaw the 2007 World Cup campaign © Getty Images

Martin Crowe, who led New Zealand to the 1992 semi-final, has questioned the current side's preparation after Stephen Fleming's team crashed out of the World Cup in Jamaica. Crowe agreed with Fleming's decision to step down as one-day captain and said the coach John Bracewell should follow after the 81-run loss to Sri Lanka.

"You need to move on to fresh ideas because the game is moving on very quickly," Crowe told Radio Sport. Crowe said he was disappointed the New Zealand players did not seem to be hit hard by the 215-run loss to Australia in Grenada last week.

"They fall into doing the same PR speak and putting a positive spin on things," he said. "But the Australian game was diabolical and that was such a crucial match."

Crowe was concerned there were not a lot of players in form and he believed the build-up to the Australia clash was where New Zealand's campaign began to unravel. Shane Bond missed the match with a stomach upset and Jacob Oram rested to help a foot injury.

"What are you doing eating a dodgy fish curry that's going to take you out of the game the next day?" he said. "They needed Bond there, they needed Jacob Oram there. I don't care about Oram's bruised heel - when you've got seven or eight days to play, you get out there and play what are going to be the three most important games of your career.

"They didn't front up, they backed out and they just said 'we had our eye on the Sri Lankan game'. Well they didn't have their eye on that because as we've seen today, they just didn't perform as well as this well-groomed Sri Lankan side." While Crowe's outfit was knocked out by Pakistan in a game that went to the wire, Fleming's side was soundly beaten after strong performances from Mahela Jayawardene, Lasith Malinga and Muttiah Muralitharan.

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