Published: Jul 17, 2016, 03:42 PM (IST)
Edited: Jul 17, 2016, 03:42 PM (IST)
New Zealand’s fast bowler Doug Bracewell has expressed his desire to work and improve on his batting, while hoping to become a batting all-rounder for his side. Bracewell made his international debut in a T20 International (T20I) against Zimbabwe. While he is yet to found consistent game-time or success in T20I or One-Day Internationals (ODI), he has been a regular fixture in the team in Test cricket, playing 25 matches and taking 69 wickets. With the bat though, he hasn’t been able to contribute much, with just 520 runs in the process. He has pretty decent stats in the domestic circuit though, with over 2,500 runs in First Class cricket. ALSO READ: New Zealand ready to tour Zimbabwe despite unrest
Speaking about his hopes of becoming a batting all-rounder, Bracewell was quoted by ESPNcricinfo as saying, “I’ve always wanted to be [a batting allrounder] ever since I started playing first-class. Over the last couple of years I haven’t really produced the numbers that I would have liked but I’ve put in quite a lot of hard work over the last year or two and starting to slowly see a few improvements. Hopefully I can keep working hard at it and get some runs.”
Bracewell’s recent form, both with bat and ball, has been really good. In the Plunket Shield, he took 18 wickets and scored runs at an healthy average of 33, and seemed happy about the domestic season. “Overall, I was pretty happy with how the season went. Obviously, a lot of work-ons going forward, you always want to get better and improve. I’ve been working on the batting quite a lot and trying to improve on that and churn out some more runs. I don’t reflect too much over the last summer, it’s been done and now we’ve got some cricket to look forward to over here and a big summer coming up.”
After a good season, he was chosen in the New Zealand squad for their tour of Zimbabwe. He will be expected to face stiff competition for place in the starting XI, with the likes of Trent Boult, Tim Southee, Matt Henry and Neil Wagner in the squad.
