John Bracewell Quotations

We've got a major tournament in India, a major tournament in the West Indies, and the VB Series in Australia so we have to evolve a bowling attack that can win in three different continents.

Lou continually said that he didn't see himself as an opener and would prefer to bat in the middle order.

Mills is recovering from his groin strain but does not have enough recent cricket to be considered for section. He will be returning to club cricket this weekend before the team for the remainder of the one-day series is announced.

Now we have to rethink that because they are a lot fresher then we expected them to be at the end of the season.

If we haven't got an option in terms of captaincy over there (West Indies), then I think we're being silly.

He will be considered for a return to international cricket later in the summer,

He is a long term investment and deserves to be retained for a second tour.

He is focused on playing in the World Cup and will have plenty of opportunity to return to form and full match fitness over the domestic season,

He has shown great commitment in returning to full fitness this season and I believe that he had the ability to push towards the World Cup, if that is what he desired.

What I'm hearing is he's struggling with throwing, he can't throw at the moment but he is making some progress.

He's admitted a couple of times that he's struggled to stay in the battle when teams have gone hard at him, but he has certainly progressed in that area in test matches and hopefully will do on this tour.

He just wants to be close to home right now and we're more than happy to work in with him.

He'll be a great boost. He is the man who puts their big runs on the board and when they compete as a team it's usually when he gets a score under his belt.

Hamish won't be available for the match, his ribs just haven't improved enough.

Jacob has started bowling over the past couple of days and has been running for some time.

Kallis is probably one of the best defensive players in the world. He demonstrated that up north on a difficult pitch, and he did the same in this match, keeping the bowlers at bay for long periods.

I think they will tend to spread the load around the bowling group and that should be our strength.

Our priority is to win the remaining (ODI) matches. That's the bottom line.

Some guys, who may be playing in the test series, may need a game or two off to rest and rebuild their strength and that is something I've asked the selectors to ponder over the next couple of days. But we need to win on Saturday, so it's first things first.

Looking towards the World Cup, if we are going to create competition for World Cup places now is the appropriate time.

We've timed part of our altitude conditioning with the warm-up games but don't see that as an issue.

We sat down for a long chat about the issue and it was a pretty tough hour for both of us, because we go back a long way,

Undoubtedly, yes. It would've been (hard to retain him).

We felt they should return to domestic cricket to work on their batting before being reconsidered for selection.

The selectors were unanimous in the decision to select Hamish. We acknowledge his recent lack of form but believe he will turn it around. We were also conscious of the need to retain continuity within the squad and not to make wholesale changes.

South Africa have been waiting for us for some time and from what I gather they won't have forgotten the outcome of that series,

As a Test side, they were one of the few sides to leave Australia without their tail between their legs.

Everybody has their resources stretched from time to time.

It's not getting any worse, but it's just bugging him.

Their Test team will have a stronger feel to it than the one-day side.

If selected he'll return for Central Districts as a batter in the next (State Championship) round (next week). So we're hopeful there will be progress.

If we bat first and collapse, we would consider pulling a bowler out and introducing an extra batsman.

His back was starting to get a bit tired in the ODI rat race, so we took him out for a rest.

His fielding is saving us 30 runs a game ... and that's important. It almost balances the ledger.

Chris Cairns was not selected due to issues with his cricket fitness

How and Fulton have been selected after showing consistent form in domestic cricket and New Zealand A.

I back myself to be part of the team and contribute to it.

You can't have a guy who holds every batting record there is and not gain confidence.

Their A side has been strong for quite some time. They will be good warm-up games and give us a decent measure of where we are at since the Indian series,