Vincent's treatment depressing

It's not hard to understand why Lou Vincent might want to leave his options open regarding a return to the New Zealand team - almost certainly the catalyst for the deep emotional hole into which he tumbled late last year.

The player who demonstrated extreme courage this week by publicly acknowledging he suffered from depression, was poorly treated over a long period by the John Bracewell regime and is unlikely to be in a hurry to return - at least until there are some personnel changes in the wind.

No one would suggest Vincent's appalling treatment at the hands of the selectors has caused his medical condition, or even that it sparked his crisis before Christmas, when - after being dropped from the team to play Bangladesh - he was forced to withdraw from cricket, citing mental exhaustion.

For all that, what does seem clear is Vincent has joined the rapidly lengthening line of players who have became so disillusioned by Bracewell's methods and decisions, that they've either refused to play for him, have threatened to play offshore, or have given up on the game altogether.

At last glance, the number of New Zealand players who have opted out of international cricket under Bracewell's watch is starting to approach the size of another team - Vincent, Mark Richardson, Chris Cairns, Nathan Astle, Craig McMillan, Hamish Marshall, Andre Adams and Shane Bond, never mind the on-again off- again status of Mathew Sinclair.

It's true, many of these players were in the autumn of their careers anyway but when you consider the lack of quality replacements on the horizon, you'd think the coach and selectors would have tried their utmost to keep them on board for as long as possible.

Instead, over a period of years they've poked, prodded and experimented on their most precious resources, to the extent that they've now been left with a posse of greenhorns and rookies, and a team that is, whatever the result last night, fast-becoming an international embarrassment.

Probably the most damaging initiative Bracewell undertook was his strategy of deliberately unsettling established players, apparently in an attempt to add an edge to their game, and make them hungrier for success.

The reasoning was that, because New Zealand cricket lacked depth, players weren't being challenged for their positions and - as a result - they inevitably allowed an element of complacency to creep into their games.

Hence, the idea of dropping them, a move that was thought to be the brain-child of former high performance chief Ric Charlesworth but one that almost certainly led to the premature retirements of Chris Cairns and Nathan Astle, to name just a couple.

Then there was the idea of manufacturing players for certain positions rather than going with specialists, a plan that led to the start of Vincent's test decline, despite the fact he'd made 92 in his previous outing, and had averaged 56.66 over his most recent nine innings.

You'd think - at a time when New Zealand's test batting appeared to be devaluing at the same rate as the Zimbabwean dollar - that the selectors might have been keen on a bloke who had made centuries against Australia, India and Sri Lanka, and had a test average hovering around 35.00.

And given Vincent was also the best fieldsman in New Zealand, able to play in any position in the top-order, and had a good record against fast bowling, you could also be forgiven for assuming that he would've been one of the first picked for last November's return visit to South Africa.

After all, New Zealand were found badly wanting against the pace of Dale Steyn and Makhaya Ntini on the previous tour, when coach Bracewell - after dropping Vincent - headed to the republic with a quartet of new openers - Jamie How, Michael Papps, Peter Fulton and the reinvented Hamish Marshall.

We didn't need a quantum physicist to tell us the Black Caps were likely to come under fire from the South African pace battery and that, consequently, any batsman with a clue against the fast stuff would be invaluable to the cause.

But then again, maybe we did.

Vincent initially missed out completely as Bracewell and company instead plumped for three players with vastly inferior records - openers Craig Cumming and Michael Papps, and the untried Ross Taylor.

Yes, an 11th hour withdrawal from Fulton meant Vincent eventually won a reprieve but - if anything - his belated inclusion on the tour only highlighted Bracewell's apparent indifference to his claims.

Lest we forget, Vincent was overlooked for both the warm-up games, during which time the New Zealand batting line-up was virtually vaporised by average opposition, and then left out of the side for the first test at the Wanderers.

That was the game in which Papps and Cumming were briefly tortured and then put out of their misery by Steyn and Andre Nel; when the New Zealand batsmen proved so clueless that they lasted only 92 overs in total, and when the margin of defeat (358 runs) was of record proportions.

Yet, even then, and with all-rounder Jacob Oram unavailable because of injury, Bracewell still resisted the temptation to pick Vincent for the second test, instead deciding on the scarcely-believable option of shortening the batting order, and including another bowler in Kyle Mills.

It was only when Mills woke up ill on the morning of the game that Vincent was whisked back into the line-up, apparently about half-an-hour before play began.

No one's suggesting this sort of treatment caused Vincent's problems, or that it wouldn't be a gross over- reaction to attempt to blame any person or event for the 29-year-old's current condition.

But the fact remains that, at a time when every experienced hand is needed to keep the HMS Bracewell afloat, most of the best players have already abandoned ship, and several others wouldn't get back on if you paid them.

Why? The answer seems to be that they'd rather be somewhere else.

- © Fairfax NZ News