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JOHN SELKIRK/Dominion Post
HAD ENOUGH: In-form all-rounder Andre Adams has had a gutsful of selection policies in the New Zealand cricket scene and made himself unavailable for one-day international selection until it changes.
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Another New Zealand cricketer is teetering on the brink of retirement after becoming "sick and tired" of the policies of coach John Bracewell and the national selectors.
In-form all-rounder Andre Adams, the standout player in the first two rounds of the State Championship competition, revealed this week that he'd already declined a request to make himself available for the New Zealand one-day team, and that he was close to calling time on his test aspirations as well.
Adams had apparently been asked about his availability for the three-match series against South Africa, starting tonight, but turned down selection manager Sir Richard Hadlee because of the "confusion and frustration" he felt as a result of previous omissions.
And in another startling revelation, he told the Sunday Star-Times that far from being dropped midway through last year's tri-series in Australia, he'd confronted Bracewell and demanded to be sent home so that he could at least play for Auckland.
And he inferred the current Black Caps team might not be entirely content.
"Are they a happy team?" Adams asked of the present touring side. "That's a tough question and one that I've got some pretty strong views on but I'm not prepared to speak about it publicly at the moment."
Adams said he would remain unavailable for the ODI team under the present administration, and that he would have a lot more to say on the matter when he stepped down from all international commitments something that might happen in the near future.
The veteran of 42 ODIs has only played one test match, the win against England at Eden Park in 2002, but his domestic form and the fragility of the current squad will make him a strong contender for the upcoming home tussles against Bangladesh and England.
Adams' outburst and his plans to abandon the game follows the premature retirements of Chris Cairns, Nathan Astle and Craig McMillan all of whom expressed dissatisfaction over Bracewell's regime and the retirement from ODI cricket of Stephen Fleming.
On top of that, Lou Vincent and Mathew Sinclair have threatened to play outside New Zealand, such has been the strength of their grievances, and Fleming has talked about a deliberate management policy of "unsettling" established players.
Adams said he was stepping away from the ODI arena because he had lost confidence in the judgment of the selectors, and didn't want to put himself through any more frustration or unnecessary heartache.
"I'm pretty disappointed with the treatment I've received over the past year, especially not being picked for the world cup," he said.
"When I was also left out of the Twenty20 world champs, I thought `well, if I can't get in ahead of Bradley Scott I must be a fair bit off the pace'.
"I've watched some players who were picked ahead of me have a pretty average time of it, and they just kept playing. I've sat on the bench and watched, and I've had enough simple as that."
The crisis in the Black Caps camp is making news in Australia, where there are fears next month's Chappell-Hadlee series will be another mismatch for the world champions, who have won 14 tests on the trot.
The Chappell-Hadlee trophy is the only major piece of silverware missing from Cricket Australia's display cabinet after New Zealand won the last series following Australia's controversial decision to rest captain Ricky Ponting and vice-captain Adam Gilchrist.
Former Black Caps coach Steve Rixon told Sydney's Sun-Herald the team hadn't improved under Bracewell.
"Braces has been in the job for four years and I haven't seen too much improvement in the team, which disappoints me," Rixon said.
Legendary New Zealand batsman Martin Crowe echoed Rixon's sentiments.
"I have indicated that after four years there should be a change," Crowe said.
"Just as we changed the captain and our CEO, we should change the coach. But they haven't. They've obviously got some good reasons for it and clearly it's not fitting with everyone. I understand a new CEO came in, Justin Vaughan, and they looked at the record and saw New Zealand were ranked third in the world in one-day cricket and made the semifinals of the World Cup, beat Australia in the Chappell-Hadlee ... why should we change that?
"But the flipside is that [Bracewell] has also taken New Zealand down to seventh in the world in their test ranking and a number of players have decided to retire because they haven't been happy. We just can't afford to lose depth like that ... Astle, McMillan, Adams, etc."
New Zealand's tour of Australia opens with a Twenty20 international in Perth on December 11. The three-match Chappell-Hadlee Series follows with games in Adelaide (Dec 14), Sydney (Dec 16) and Hobart (Dec 20), by which time Cricket Australia clearly expect to have their trophy cabinet full.
