The Black Cap's poor series in Bangladesh is a worrying sign, especially when you consider the Summer ahead.

And the fact that they're staring down the barrel of a Test loss.

And the fact there's still a Test to go.

Hmmmm.

The Black Caps will face Australia in two Tests and five ODIs (all in Australia), two Tests and five ODIs at home against the West Indies, and the same again against India - not to mention several Twenty20 matches in between.

This is by no means an easy Summer's schedule - in fact, it will be one of the toughest in recent years.

If the ODI series (and quite possibly the first Test match, the way it's going) against Bangladesh is anything to go by, then get ready for a long Summer - because if we play like this against Australia, West Indies or India then we're going to suffer some pretty heavy defeats.

One of the major problems for the Black Caps is that we have a coach, John Bracewell, who has already announced he will be retiring at the end of the Summer, rather than just stepping down now. We feel Bracewell should have been shown the exit at the end of the World Cup, but instead he was retained, and things have continued to go down hill.

New Zealand Cricket should have stepped in when the worrying signs began. We've lost some of our best players during Bracewell's time in charge - Nathan Astle, Craig MacMillan, Shane Bond, Lou Vincent, not to mention Stephen Fleming - all of whom are clearly not done playing cricket, as they all continue to play in the Twenty20 leagues in India.

Obviously there is something that the public are not being told, because we don't buy for one second that these guys left because they were finished with International cricket. Sure, they may have been getting towards the end of their playing days - but they could easily have played on for another few seasons.

I can't wait to read Craig MacMillan's book - we'll finally be able to hear about how the players really got on with Bracewell. From what we've heard, he rips into Bracewell's coaching style...

If only the players actually spoke about these matters at the time, rather than waiting a year or two.

The other problem for the Black Caps is that we've got really talented batters batting out of position. Former Black Cap Simon Doull made a comment about how Brendon McCullum should not be opening the batting - especially with Jesse Ryder at the other end. We, for two, agree - McCullum is far more useful batting at six or seven, where he will be more likely to win us games.

The only times he's won us games opening the batting has been when we've had to chase miserly totals of around 120, where he could go out and swing the bat at everything without any real pressure on him. He's certainly not at his best when he's left to set a total - although for that matter, none of the Black Caps are. McCullum should be batting down the order, where he can close an innings - similar to the way Chris Harris used to. He's capable of scoring quickly, and would be far more effective at the other end of the innings.

The other batting change that needs to be made is Jacob Oram - we feel he needs to come up the order to at least five. Oram is the kind of batsman who needs to get his eye in, and becomes far more useful when he is given the chance to do so. We saw it against Bangladesh where he came in when the pressure was on, and he had to consolidate the innings. Once he had, he unleashed - and the runs piled up. In the third ODI, he came in and needed to start scoring right away - and he got himself out quite quickly.

These are not difficult things to fix, but would be very effective moves to make. But, most importantly (yes, we'll say it again) - they need to get rid of Bracewell as soon as possible, so that the team can start rebuilding under the guidance of a new coach.