Watling, Edgar on panel to pick coach
He ruled himself out of the race, but former national selector and test opener Bruce Edgar will be part of the six-man panel tasked with selecting the new Black Caps coach next month.
Wellington Firebirds coach Edgar and two test wicketkeepers, BJ Watling and Luke Ronchi, will join New Zealand Cricket chief executive David White, board member Don Mackinnon and NZC’s general manager high performance, Bryan Stronach, to decide Mike Hesson’s successor.
Hesson exits the building next week after a successful six years as coach, but had one final task to join selector Gavin Larsen in choosing three New Zealand squads to face Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates starting in late October.
Those squads are set to be announced today, with Central Stags spinner Ajaz Patel poised for a long-awaited test callup at 29 for fellow left-armer Mitchell Santner who is still sidelined after knee surgery. A New Zealand A squad to face Pakistan A in the UAE will also be named.
Hesson’s shock announcement last month that he was walking away with a year to run on his contract to spend more time with his family left NZC with little option but to ask him to pick a squad which he will present to his successor, who had no say in the selection.
Canterbury’s Gary Stead – who has applied despite a prolonged silence since applications closed on July 15 – looks the early favourite to take over. Central Stags’ Heinrich Malan, Scotland and former Northern Districts coach Grant Bradburn and Auckland Aces and former Black Caps assistant Mark O’Donnell are other leading contenders.
Edgar looked a highly qualified candidate who had success with the Firebirds but confirmed last week he didn’t apply, saying he couldn’t commit the time under the job’s current structure where the head coach takes charge of all three formats.
But NZC saw the opportunity to use Edgar’s expertise on the coach selection panel.
NZC said Edgar fitted the bill as an independent candidate, while Watling and Ronchi were the two nominated representatives from the New Zealand Cricket Players’ Association.
Ronchi, who retired from international cricket last year, will only be on the panel for the early part of the selection process before departing to play in the Caribbean Premier League next month. Current test gloveman Watling is part of the Black Caps senior leadership group and will be there throughout.
For the Pakistan series Patel looks the main selection talking point in Santner’s absence.
Named domestic player of the year, and consistently among the leading Plunket Shield wickettakers, Patel looks likely to form a two-pronged test spin attack with Todd Astle assuming the UAE pitches are their usual spinfriendly selves.
There is unlikely to be much deviation from recent selections in the test squad, with backup batsman the only real talking point and Martin Guptill appealing as the likely choice.
After a lean run at the top of the ODI order, Colin Munro is expected to retain his spot in both limited overs squads, with batsman George Worker also likely to feature.