One-day form bowls Taylor, but NZC shoddy
STATING THE bleedin’ obvious with this, I know. Still, needs to be said: The value or worth of any decision can usually be measured by the degree of improvement it brings. Should tell us something, then, that New Zealand Cricket’s attempt to split the captaincy of the test and ODI/T20 teams is being weighed mostly in terms of the damage caused. Instead of leaving the side better off, it’s left them worse off. Nothing spells mistake quite as clearly as that.
Seldom has the New Zealand cricket landscape felt as incendiary as it has since Friday. Brendon McCullum installed as the new Black Caps skipper; Ross Taylor declining to participate in a splitcaptaincy initiative and withdrawing in protest from the tour of South Africa. Yes, there was the bomb-torn visit to Sri Lanka in 1992-93, when half the team opted to stay and the other half left for home. But even then, at least the bomb wasn’t planted by NZC.
A short caveat, here. If what’s been reported since Friday’s media conference is true, that Taylor made himself unavailable in response to losing the captaincy in the shorter formats, then glances might also be cast in his direction. It would hardly have been the end of the world, after all. Not many players lead their country in all three forms. If Taylor had accepted rather than baulked, it’s hard to imagine anyone drawing a negative from it.
Certainly, NZC was entitled to want change. Whatever you might make of the test team’s recent win in Colombo, there’s no question about the state of the national side’s shorter game. Under Taylor, the ODI side have won six of 20, including one against Canada and two against Zimbabwe. They have plummeted to their lowest position since the ICC rankings were introduced: ninth – below even Bangladesh. The T20 results are only slightly better.
It’s a fair point, Taylor at least led from the front, evidenced by his impressive individual form during that time. On the other hand, captaincy carries more direct influence in the shorter format than the test arena. ODI and T20 skippers are required to make many more forced decisions, by dint of fielding restrictions, power-plays, and over limits. It was simply unrealistic to think NZC wouldn’t eventually try someone else.
Having said that, there’s no question the matter has been handled terribly. No wonder NZC is looking for a senior PR executive. If nothing else, its errors can be measured by the casualties to date. Taylor has been wounded; director of cricket John Buchanan ignored and coach Mike Hesson, his assistant Bob Carter and manager Mike Sandle, vilified. NZC chief executive David White was on Friday asked if he would resign. Not exactly a win-win, then.
It’s said timing is everything in cricket. NZC has shown none of that. Charged with handling a delicate matter it’s gone about things like a Dotcom in a china shop. When waiting until home would’ve offered the chiefs a chance to get alongside Taylor, to show some pastoral care and to reassure him that he remained the jewel in the crown, they instead left him feeling angry and unloved, and on tour. As crisis management goes, they fell at every hurdle.
Not only that, the ham-fisted treatment of Taylor has made new captain McCullum’s assignment almost untenable. A sympathy vote for the old skipper has grown into a groundswell of undeserved condemnation for the new. From all accounts, McCullum played no part in the affair yet he’s been fingered as a coup leader, an agitator of change. As if touring the No 1 ranked nation in the world isn’t difficult enough.
Taylor should be beside him in South Africa. Wasn’t long ago that McCullum was very publicly sacked as Daniel Vettori’s vicecaptain, then overlooked in a twohorse race with Taylor for the armband. Can’t remember him refusing to play in protest. I mean, it’s never been mandatory. New Zealand’s greatest batsman, Bert Sutcliffe, was axed as test captain and told to concentrate on his runscoring. Seemed to manage without going on strike.
NZC was probably right; it was time for a change in direction for the ODI and T20 sides. All it had to do next was design and implement a plan in which everyone involved could continue to feel valued and worthy. Don’t know about you, but when the best player in the team martyrs himself as a consequence? I think we can safely call that a fail.