Having known Williamson and Boult since they first picked up a bat and ball, the 52-year-old was enormously proud of the contribution the pair made to the Black Caps' seven-run win. But they aren't his life's work.
Doug undoubtedly is, and these days the two tend to resemble a couple of old mates, rather than father and son. The boy certainly had to become a man fast, especially after dad took the academy from its original base at Te Puna, north of Tauranga, down to Masterton's Rathkeale College.
Brendon and brothers Doug, Mark and John all cut their cricketing teeth in the Tauranga Boys' College first XI, where they played in the local men's competition. All four then moved on to the first-class ranks, with Brendon and John also playing for New Zealand. So as soon as Doug, the younger, was of age dad sent him down the same route.
"He first started playing premier [club] cricket in the Wairarapa when he was 13 and got his first premier hundred when he was about 14. He was always a good line and length bowler, with a bit of outswing, and pretty nippy for a kid that age," said Bracewell, who has since shifted his academy to just north of Napier.
