MICHAEL BRACEWELL | Blackcaps spin bowler looking ahead to India series starting tomorrow

SPEAKER_1 (0:00)

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SPEAKER_2 (0:15)

And the one and only Michael Bracewell joins us on the line, Beastie, good morning.

Michael Bracewell (0:20)

Good morning guys, how are we?

SPEAKER_2 (0:22)

Very good, thanks mate. How's prep been in Christchurch, mate? You'd be looking forward to tomorrow night, wouldn't you? Or was it past your bedtime, 8 o'clock start?

Michael Bracewell (0:31)

With the early mornings and the late nights, it's going to be tricky, but yeah, it's going to be cold, that's for sure. But no, we're looking forward to it. We've had a good day training yesterday and have another day today. So excited to get into it.

SPEAKER_2 (0:45)

I suppose it'd be remiss of me not to ask about this kind of weekend Christchurch, Beastie. I know you guys are focusing on the cricket, but there's netball tonight, there's rugby league on the weekend, there's an MPC final coming up as well. I mean, it's a massive occasion for the city. Are you getting a sense that people are pretty excited around town?

Michael Bracewell (1:03)

Yeah, you can certainly feel the buzz around the city.

I saw the Colab Blackcaps did yesterday on social media, and it looks pretty cool. Obviously great to have all the different codes around here, and such a great city for sport, with everything being so close to the city centre.

Sammy (1:28)

Michael, it's Sammy here. Wonderful to have you on the show. We're used to the summer of cricket now, creeping into those early October vibes, but we're all for it, especially when India are the team to come to town as a cricketer. What kind of challenge is it to have an absolute behemoth of the sport in town like this?

Michael Bracewell (1:46)

Yeah, thanks Sammy.

I guess one of the challenges is, we played a try series a couple of years ago with Pakistan and Bangladesh. It was probably a little bit earlier than this, and there was snow the day before one of the games. So I guess that's one of the challenges is dealing with the weather. But look, we'll be more used to it than the Indians will, so it sort of gives us an advantage. But to be honest, one of the other things early season is the WCAP, but I had a glimpse of that yesterday. It looks like an absolute delta. So the ground staff look like they've done a really good job down here, and it should be a really good game of cricket.

SPEAKER_2 (2:34)

I want to talk about the pitch, and Hagley in particular. We know that there's exceptional bounce at Hagley Beastie, and it's under lights too, so that brings some different elements into the game as well, likely Dewey underfoot. So, it's a game for strategy, isn't it, from a Hagley point of view, but you boys love it there. What is it about Hagley that really suits the ethos and the strategy of this Blackcap side?

Michael Bracewell (2:57)

Yeah, I think it's probably a little bit different from the grounds that you get in India, which should give us a bit of an advantage. It's obviously a really big cricket ground, so you have to play really good shots to hit boundaries, and then with the extra bounce, it can challenge you in a different way as a batter. So yeah, we'll be looking to utilize that, and I'm sure they'll have their plans in place to combat the bounce and the larger boundaries as well. So as cricket, you play, as cricket as you play all around the world and have to get used to different conditions. So that's one of the great things about the game, is you have to adapt your skills really quickly to different conditions. So yeah, I'm sure they'll be able to adapt and it'll be a great series.

SPEAKER_2 (3:50)

Having knowledge of Hagley as well, and certainly where to set fields at Hagley is also sometimes a challenge for visiting teams. We've seen that in the past, haven't we, Bison? Wearing your captain's hat, you've got to have your wits about you when you're setting fields on this ground in particular.

Michael Bracewell (4:06)

Yeah, absolutely. I think the ball flies square because you can sort of get underneath the bounce and hit the ball square as a batter. So yeah, it does change things.

Bowlers have to adjust their lengths as well. So yeah, I think the team that adapts to the conditions quickly is generally the team that comes out on top.