Captaincy, collapses 'not linked'

Since Peter Fulton replaced Kruger van Wyk as Canterbury captain the team has played 11 matches, winning just two.

Not only have they been losing but the performances have often been average, highlighted by the dismal 77 they were bowled out for on Wednesday, en route to an eight-wicket loss to Central Districts.

The dramatic decline has led some to speculate that the results are linked to the mid-season change at the helm, but Canterbury Cricket chief executive Lee Germon is adamant the two are unrelated.

"I suppose people may think that but my take on it is that it's an easy option to look at," Germon said ahead of today's one-day away match against Auckland at Colin Maiden Park.

"From my discussions with [coach Bob Carter] and players, I don't think that's been the case. It's more a case that we didn't turn up during the Twenty20 campaign.

"We did in a couple of games ... and certainly my take is that I don't believe the captaincy has contributed to the poor results.

"From the outside we just seemed to not lose the fight but become accustomed to losing and when the other team might have got some ascendancy we may have thought, subconsciously, `here we go again' and that happens to teams."

That prompted Germon to conduct an "interim review" with Carter about where the team was heading, the guts of that discussion being that Canterbury were tactically poor in the Twenty20s and better suited to one and four-day cricket.

"When you look outside of the playing group that we've got representing us, it's very difficult to come up with any other [personnel] options," Germon said.

"I look at the side and it's experienced and there's an awful lot of talent there, so I believe we have got a chance to turn it around."

With the opportunity to host a one-day semifinal still in the offing, Germon said that had to begin with a bonus-point win over competition leaders Auckland today and then something similar against Wellington at QEII Park on Tuesday. Entry into Tuesday's match is free.

"Last year we averaged around 900 to Twenty20 games and this year we averaged closer to 2000, so this is a way for us to say `thank you' to the fans for staying loyal to us through what was a disappointing Twenty20 campaign," Germon said.

He did say, though, that administrators have to guard against killing the goose laying the golden eggs.

"We've got to be very careful that we don't over-saturate Twenty20... Where we're at now, which is a double round and is more than we've had before, caters for it very well."

- © Fairfax NZ News