Bracewell Keeps on Moving the Goalposts Before Upping Sticks

When John Bracewell takes his Gloucestershire squad to Trent Bridge today for the final thrash of the first Twenty20 season a six-year affair with English cricket will begin to draw to a close. The coach of what is arguably the most successful side in contemporary one-day cricket is heading back to New Zealand to run the national side.

There is still a C&G semi-final, and possibly a sixth Lord's final to come, and Gloucestershire still aspire to promotion to the first division of the County Championship, but Bracewell is already planning his move to Christchurch.

Apparently, news of his resignation came as a surprise at Bristol. It should not have done. The writing was on the wall. Earlier this season when Sri Lanka announced that they had short-listed the New Zealander to replace Dav Whatmore as their coach, Bracewell declined but made it clear that international cricket was where his future lay.

Indeed, when Gloucestershire originally interviewed him, he told them that he saw the job as an apprenticeship for the real thing. "That's the reason I came over here," he said this week. "To learn.

"I stated that I was ambitious to become good enough to coach at international level rather than be an international coach and then learn how to do the job.

"I felt that England was the only place in the world that provided that environment - that totally professional outlook and something that simulated, to a certain extent, international cricket."

But to gain the attention of the cricketing world he had first to convert a side that had won only two trophies in 150 years into a team that took five cups in two seasons.

"It was not realistic to go for everything - the talent was not that good and nor was our habit of winning. The culture of the club was that they were quite happy to be also-rans."

He also felt the players "hid" behind Courtney Walsh in four-day cricket: "Very brave 30 yards back, very brave when Courtney was on the park, but not so brave when he wasn't there. I think it was good for the team that he went because they became more stand-alone."

So he targeted the one-day game, brought in the Victorian all-rounder Ian Harvey and introduced what he calls "offensive" fielding to English cricket.

"In one-day cricket we brought energy and confrontation. We used fielders offensively and bowlers defensively." The opening bowler Mike Smith was even dropped for a few games for refusing to bowl a shorter length and the wicketkeeper Jack Russell was told to "orchestrate" the hyperactive fielding that was to become a trademark.

That formula won Gloucestershire two NatWest and two B&H cups as well as the Sunday league title, but after they lost to Surrey in the 2001 B&H final Bracewell felt other teams had caught up.

When last season was lost to internecine squabbling that saw the departure of two internationals, Kim Barnett and Jeremy Snape, it looked as though the era had ended, but Bracewell feels "we have moved the game on again" this season largely through the introduction of Jonty Rhodes and a bit more innovative thinking.

"About this time last year we sat down with the players, told them that the goalposts had been moved and that there would be two overseas players and asked them to write down the characteristics of the player we needed.

"They wanted someone who was going to be there for the whole year, they wanted high energy, they wanted a team person, and they wanted someone who could pass on knowledge. At no stage did they want someone who could just win them games of cricket."

Rhodes, who had just announced his international retirement, arrived at the start of the season and was an immediate hit with the players.

If Bracewell has transformed sleepy Gloucestershire in six years, the job ahead looks equally daunting. The New Zealand board has the stated ambition of being a top-three Test and international side.

The bonus for Bracewell is that he sees Gloucestershire as New Zealand in microcosm. "We have only a certain depth of resource. We are not Surrey [who they meet in the Twenty20 semi-final] - we cannot go out and buy a team. But I would rather manage a side that had some idea of its own destiny rather than one you can just produce on a whim."

In fact, the only thing that "bugs" him about his English apprenticeship is "the old boy network and the fact that you are always looked on as a foreigner and slightly mercenary. But I have no apologies for that because yes, I am. I am here for my own needs.

"But as I explained to the club, it's a win-win situation. If I wasn't ambitious then I would become like everybody else."