Fantastic news for New Zealand cricket fans, as a new coach has been named to replace the departing John Bracewell. Northern Districts coach, Andy Moles, will replace Bracewell after the final Test in Adelaide in a few days time. This is welcome news for all those who felt Bracewell should have gone a long time ago - and yes, we are certainly in that group.

Bracewell was originally scheduled to leave at the end of the New Zealand Summer, but has decided it would be best to leave after the two-Test series against the Aussies - which we think is the best decision Bracewell has made in his time as coach.

The Black Caps have failed to make any improvements in their game under Bracewell, and while we still rank in the top 4 in One Day cricket, we haven't made a serious attempt at challenging for that top spot. As for Tests, we seem to have gotten worse as time has gone on - and our batting can only be described as atrocious.

Andy Moles was an opening batsman, and hopefully he can come in and teach our top order a thing or two about staying at the crease. He has plenty of potential to work with, but we'll just have to wait and see if he can get the best out of them.

The one thing he has said he will do is make the players accountable for their performances, which is something Bracewell has never done. Just think back to how long Hamish Marshall was kept in the team, despite being in the worst form of his life. If the players aren't performing, then they need to face the consequences. We've said it a million times before - there is potential by the bucket loads, but for some reason the players just aren't producing the goods.

Barrack Obama said it best - "It's time for a change". And, while he probably wasn't talking about the Black Caps (we don't think), the saying fits nicely.

Moles has a hard task ahead of him, but if he's given the right support fro New Zealand Cricket and, most importantly, the players themselves, we don't see any reason why he can't lift the Black Caps out of the mediocre, and into one of the best teams in the world.

I guess we'll just have to wait and see.