It's time cricketers started worrying more

COACH: Andy Moles.

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OPINION: It is time New Zealand cricket's senior players got more accurate with the bat than the axe they have been swinging lately, writes Logan Savory in this week's Sav's Say.

In October last year it was revealed senior Black Cap players had united to have Andy Moles ousted as the national coach.

Player power bubbled away before Moles eventually had no choice but to fall on his sword and give up the post he had only filled for a year.

Just a matter of three months after Moles was ousted by players another top-line coach in New Zealand looks set to join him on the scrapheap thanks to our well-paid cricketers.

The word coming from up north suggests Central Districts coach Dermot Reeve is in the firing line after at least one senior player has reportedly taken a dislike to him.

Yesterday morning in a radio interview Black Cap Jacob Oram said little about the speculation, but at the same time he hardly took the opportunity to come out in support of Reeve.

Pointing Oram out might be a touch unfair but I'd be uncomfortable if the 31-year-old is, in fact, playing a lead role behind the scenes in plotting the removal of Reeve.

Oram himself should be thankful his over-hyped reputation keeps winning him selection in the New Zealand side because what he is doing on the field recently has been far from world-class.

Yes, he has at times been useful with the ball in the HRV Cup twenty20 tournament, but with the bat he has been poor, scoring only 72 runs at average of just 10.

If there is some finger pointing to be done in the Central Districts camp just maybe it should be Oram that has his performance assessed through a more powerful microscope.

It is time New Zealand's top-level cricketers started worrying more about their performance on the field than personality clashes with coaches off it.

It is not surprising New Zealand Cricket has been reluctant to move quickly to fill the position at the helm of the Black Caps after Moles was shot down by the cricketing snipers.

It is like feeding a bloke to a hungry pack of lions, who is really interested in putting themselves through that?

» Logan Savory is a former Southland cricket representative who was named New Zealand junior sportswriter of the year at the 2007 TP McLean journalism awards. His main rounds are cricket and rugby.

- © Fairfax NZ News

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