JOHN BUCHANAN WANTS JOHN WRIGHT TO PICK THE CAPTAIN FOR NEW ZEALAND

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John Buchanan wants John Wright to pick the captain for the New Zealand team

Director of New Zealand Cricket, John Buchanan, has said that the coach of the national team John Wright should be the one to decide the new captain for the Black Caps.

Daniel Vettori decided to step down from Test captaincy after the home series against Pakistan earlier this year and relinquished the limited overs leadership after the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011.

Ross Taylor has been Vettori’s vice-captain since the last couple of years and is expected to take over the job but Wright seems to be in favour of the wicketkeeper/batsman Brendon McCullum.

Buchanan said that it is imperative for an international cricket team that the coach and the captain have a good relationship and this is the reason why Buchanan wants Wright to choose the captain.

He said, "If the coach and captain of a team don't get along then it's a recipe for disaster, so John needs to be very strong on who he wants there."

New Zealand cricket has faced torrid times since the last one year, facing disastrous defeats against Bangladesh, India and Pakistan. Defeats against India and Pakistan might not have hurt them that much as both the subcontinent teams are major forces in international cricket but their loss against Bangladesh was alarming.

Kiwis faced a humiliation at the hands of Bangladesh when they were whitewashed in the One Day International series.

Buchanan who himself is a former coach of the Australia team feels that more and more power should be given to the coach.  He feels that the coach of a team is responsible for the performance and this is the reason why coaches should have a say in selection.

"Part of my role is very clear. I want to elevate the role of the coach. I believe an individual is accountable for the team performance yet doesn't have some of the key responsibilities that should go with that position of which selection is one," Buchanan added.

Let’s hope that Buchanan and Wright can change the fortunes of Kiwi cricket because New Zealand has been a very important team in international cricket over the years.

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KAPIL DEV AND SUNIL GAVASKAR FAVOUR INDIAN COACHES

Two Indian greats and former captains, Sunil Gavaskar, and, Kapil Dev, have condemned the appointment ofDuncan Fletcher as Coach of the Indian Cricket team.

Quite a few other Indians share their opinion, but Dev and Gavaskar, are the two most prominent players, who wanted an Indian Coach instead of a foreigner. The BCCI should have given priority to an experienced former player of India, who could have produced better results as compared to Fletcher.

"Someone like [Mohinder] Amarnath would have been a better choice for the simple reason that the core of the Indian team today is from the Hindi-speaking belt", Gavaskar told the NDTV news channel. "He would have got on brilliantly with this group as well as the seniors. It would have been a lot easier for Amarnath to understand and interact with the players.

He could have been the best choice since he was a fighter himself as a player and had an excellent record of making comebacks and he knows how to get the best out of the team".

Amarnath has played 69 Test matches and 85 One Day International (ODIs) for India. He was instrumental in winning the Prudential World Cup, 1983 held in England. He gave an all round performance in the final againstWest Indies on 25^th June, 1983, at Lords’ London.

He posted  26 runs in a low scoring match, took three crucial wickets and was declared ‘Player of the match’, as they brought back home their first World Cup.

Kapil Dev, the great former Indian Captain, who lifted the World Cup in 1983, agreed with Gavaskar and was optimistic that Indians are capable enough to coach the team with positive results.

He pleaded for Robin Singh and Venkatesh Prasad, who have been coaching for a couple of years, as fielding and bowling coaches. Both of them fulfilled their assignments successfully until 2009 and brought the team fitness level to a peak, excelling in their assigned fields.

Kapil Dev was the coach of the Indian National Cricket team from September, 1999 to 12^th Septebmer, 2000.

Kapil inquired about Fletcher from ‘The Hindustan Times newspaper’ reporter and was ignorant about the coach since he played against him in 1983 Prudential World Cup:

"That happened almost 30 years ago. I don't remember much of him as a player. I would like to see Prasad and Robin as coaches of the Indian team. Not because they are Indians but because they did a great job at the T20 World Cup in 2007”.

Indian cricket has yet to witness a local coach since John Wright took over from 2000 to 2005. He gave confidence to the Indian side and they made it to the final of the 2003 World Cup. Greg Chappell and Gary Kirsten followed and Fletcher is the latest addition in the list.

India won the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 under the dominant coaching of Kirsten.

Gavaskar and Kapil are of the view that an Indian coach could have served in a better way, as the communication gap would have been eliminated and he could have produced positive results for Indian Cricket.

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John Wright upbeat about New Zealand Cricket future

New Zealand coach, John Wright, believes that his team has the depth and talent to re-emerge, as more than a threat at the international level following an impressive World Cup show.

The perennial ‘semi-finalists’ made it to the last four of the recently concluded tournament against all odds. There performance was great when put into perspective of the fact that they had a wretched run leading up to the tournament and that they were the only team besides the three Asian giants to make it to the semi-finals of the World Cup.

Wright, who had a successful stint at the helm of the Indian team a few years ago, took charge of the Kiwis two months before the World Cup, and oversaw Test and One Day International (ODI) series losses against Pakistan.

The Kiwis were ranked outsiders for the showpiece International Cricket Council (ICC) event, yet surprised everyone by reaching the last four, brushing aside pre-tournament favourites, South Africa, in a dramatic quarter-final in Bangladesh.

"Losing the semi-final was bitterly disappointing but I hope the team has learnt", Wright said. "I think it has grown. What's important is that we just played as hard as we could with what we had, with the resources we had. Seeing a team start to believe in themselves and in each other. The fight they showed tells you the team can get better. We have the opportunities at this stage to get better".

There has been another major appointment in New Zealand Cricket (NZC) set-up, as the Board has hired the services of former Australian coach, John Buchanan.

Speaking last week, before the appointment of John Buchanan, as the Director of Cricket, Wright chose not to comment on his role and whether he would have influence on matters pertaining to the team that Wright would take to the field in the months ahead.

The Kiwis have some top class cricket on their way. They are set to travel to Australia at the end of the years and follow that up by hosting South Africa next season.

Besides these two major assignments they are also set to encounter lowly ranked Zimbabwe and West Indies in early 2012.

Meanwhile, Wright is impressed with the talent that is at his disposal in New Zealand he thinks that the future of the game is bright with many youngsters knocking on the door of international cricket.

The former captain and opening batsman has signed a two-year stint as NZC's high performance manager and he thinks that the next generation of New Zealand cricket have the talent, will, and, determination to make it big when their time comes.

"We have got maybe five or six kids that really show a lot of potential", he said. "I have been really impressed with some of the talent I have seen in the last couple of years in under-17 and under-19 tournaments. I know that as long as we can put a playing programme in place that challenges the guys coming through and bridges the gap between first-class and international cricket, the ones that really want to make it, we could hopefully hold our own".

Besides Buchanan and Wright, New Zealand Cricket, has also hired the services of legendary South African fast bowler, Allan Donald. Donald was with the team at the World Cup and started his stint at the beginning of the ODI series against Pakistan earlier in the year.

These three stalwarts are expected to bring improvement to New Zealand and make them a real force, which they have threatened to be for a long time.

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