John Wright is the new NZ coach

[Clarke]

John Wright has replaced Mark Greatbatch as New Zealand's coach, and Daniel Vettori has lost his role as a selector, as part of a review of the team's recent tour of India. Wright will take charge of the side immediately, while Greatbatch will become the convener of a three-man selection panel that will also include Glenn Turner and Lance Cairns. One of Wright's major tasks will be to turn around New Zealand's poor one-day form, after they suffered clean-sweeps in India and Bangladesh over the past two months. The team has lost 11 consecutive ODIs, hardly the sort of lead-up they wanted ahead of February's World Cup, and they have also won only two of their past 19 Tests. "I'd always thought it would be a great challenge. When you look back at past history it's been a tough one but that's cricket," Wright told reporters after his new job was announced in Auckland. "I feel some unfinished business. I'm excited and I want to test myself as a coach." Wright is contracted until after the West Indies tour in 2012, and his appointment completes his return to the international scene after he ended a five-year stint as India's coach in 2005. He knows that his first task is to get to know the New Zealand players ahead of their next international encounter, a Twenty20 against Pakistan on December 26. "I understand it will be small steps," he said. "I look at particularly the one day team and they have potential. But the trick is to help the players find that consistency, find how to rediscover their form and confidence. I've been in a similar situation before going into a World Cup that was very, very low on confidence." The decision to hand the reins to Wright was the central outcome of a review of New Zealand's tour of India, but changes to the selection panel were also significant. Greatbatch is in charge of the new panel, which will be independent of the team, ending Vettori's tenure as a selector. However, in a statement, New Zealand Cricket said the captain and coach would continue to contribute to the selection process and would be actively responsible for team selections on tour. Greatbatch will stay on as a batting coach in New Zealand's high-performance programme. "A thorough review of the Black Caps tour of India has been undertaken over the last week," said the New Zealand Cricket CEO Justin Vaughan. "All aspects of the tour - playing performance, preparation, selection and support staff - were examined to ensure that the Black Caps have the greatest chance of succeeding. The changes being made are a direct result of that process and should make a real difference." Wright will be the fourth coach New Zealand have had in just over two years. John Bracewell was the long-standing mentor until his departure in December 2008, and his replacement Andy Moles lasted barely a year before the search for a new coach landed on Greatbatch, who took over in January this year. http://www.espncricinfo.com/newzealand/content/story/493512.html Lets hope NZ can get back to being a competitive international side .. here's hoping the move forward starts Dec 26.

[jf1gp_1]

to late; they should have had him onboard before NZ team left for Bangladesh.

[bra12vo]

With indian Team he spent memorable time I pray NZ boast in his commands

[Hindustani]

Good Luck to him, seems to be a great coach

[Sachin=GOD]

I hope he does well because he's a good coach but I think from the point of view of a good performance in the World Cup for New Zealand, its too little too late.

[Asoka]

John Wright is an excellent coach.His man management skills,especially are exemplary.NZ find themselves in the same position India was when Wright took over(India at that time was ranked 8 in ODI's I believe).But I doubt he can do much with the limited resources he has.Remember NZ has a population 1/3rd of that of Mumbai and cricket is not even their no 1 or even no 2 sport.So the amount of cricketing talent will be significantly lesser than in India.NZ have always performed beyond expectations because of their discipline,work ethics and hard work.But it seems their luck has run out now.They may of course have a resurgence in a few years time but they can't consistently have a good team. Anyway,for all that John Wright has done for Indian cricket,I sincerely wish him good luck.

[pensionplan]

Actually John Wright would have done more to Indian cricket if Ganguly was as receptive as Dhoni is to Kirsten. Think about it. With a younger SRT, VVS, RD, AK and a better version of HS at the time India could have done more IMO despite the strides they took overall. After all that was the greatest conglomeration of talent at one time in its history for India with everyone at their peak for most part.

[Sachin=GOD]

Actually John Wright would have done more to Indian cricket if Ganguly was as receptive as Dhoni is to Kirsten. Think about it. With a younger SRT' date=' VVS, RD, AK and a better version of HS at the time India could have done more IMO despite the strides they took overall. After all that was the greatest conglomeration of talent at one time in its history for India with everyone at their peak for most part.[/quote'] he could have done better but I think his biggest contribution to Indian cricket was instilling a winning mentality (especially on foreign pitches). I think the team started to believe they could win outside the subcontinent because of Wright.

[vaibhav_delhi]

Good for the kiwis, the eternal underdogs. I am always go for them whenver they arent playing india.

[pensionplan]

he could have done better but I think his biggest contribution to Indian cricket was instilling a winning mentality (especially on foreign pitches). I think the team started to believe they could win outside the subcontinent because of Wright.

It is a myth to an extent that he somehow instilled a willing mentality and Ganguly inspired the team. Let us look into this more closely. After 2000 along with Sachin who was kind of an one man army outside the sub-continent up until then in came RD into his peak years and a certain VVS who was given his due and rightly given his middle order spot he always deserved and things since have changed when the golden trio of SRT, VVS, RD the best trio of middle order bats in Indian cricket history along with Ganguly himself all played together in their relative peaks. To me though Wright deserves some credit here along with Ganguly it was more of a case of being in the right place in the right time when VVS and RD came to the party big time along with SRT that changed the course of Indian cricket. Me thinks even if it was someone else too apart from JW we would have had similar success given the kind of calibre and mental strength RD, VVS, SRT possessed. As JW himself said in his book despite all the success he was undermined to an extent during his tenure but was covered up by the peak years of these brilliant trio(SRT, VVS, RD) to go along with SG, AK, HS's of the world and winning their share of the games. But all and all he was worth the hire and my intention here is not to downplay JW who is a good cricketing brain to have around but to show the other side to this.