Mike on Cricket is back

Well my holiday is over and I have returned to a damp and slightly chilly Wellington. A week or so of isolation means I can't really say much about the cricket with authority. But I heard short snatches of commentary whenever I took my car up a nearby hill (and it is amazing how many excuses you can find to drive a car up a hill when you need to) and one thing which has struck me is that there is a sense of a changing of the guard within the New Zealand team. Stephen Fleming's retirement is now within mentioning distance, while new faces are starting to establish themselves. For a while it seemed that every series would bring in an anonymous new player who would quickly vanish without trace when an old guard player returned (Michael Mason anyone?). But members of the old guard are growing fewer and those that remain are finding it harder to take their chances when they do return. And it is the new players who are starting to lead the way in grit and determination.

Okay, so the results haven't changed yet. But a new sense of team culture and character is starting to appear to replace the fading Young Gun image. And a change of culture might be just what the side needs.