 New Zealand cricket seems to be in transition period as many changes have been
effected to the team after a below-par season that did culminate with a runners-up
position in the Champions Trophy against Australia.
For starters, the New Zealand Cricket (NZC) has sacked their cricket coach,
Andy Moles from his role in the New Zealand side. NZC has said that it
had forced the coach to quit from the post, but have also said that it was not
due to any pressure from the cricketers, but because of a post-performance review
of the team. New Zealand will now leave for Dubai to play a series against Pakistan
and despite accepting that the sacking of the coach could be 'unsettling' before
the series, he also said that he had the faith in the abilities of Daniel Vettori to lead the side.
Justin Vaughan and Andy Moles had been involved in discussions following
reports that the senior players had not been happy with the lack of tactical
and technical support from him. Vaughan said that there were inputs taken from
various resources, and the best output that could come out of the review meeting
was that Moles had to leave.
Vaughan added, "I can categorically say this is not an issue of a group
of players coming to me and saying 'get rid of the coach'". He also said
that while the whole thing will be unsettling, he had faith in the captain,
while citing the example of India. He said that India did not have a coach for
much of 2007 when Greg Chappell was sacked, and still went on to do well
in the 2007 World T20.
In another move, the New Zealand Cricket have also announced that Brendon McCullum will no longer be the vice-captain of the side. The move has come
in wake of some ordinary performances with the bat by McCullum. He has been
a hard-hitter of the ball, but hasn't been too consistent with the bat of late,
this making it easier for the board to make that decision.
McCullum said that while he was disappointed with the decision, he would take
it by the chin and do his best with the bat and with the gloves. He said, "It's
disappointing, obviously, in many respects but the fact is I can now concentrate
on my roles of scoring runs and keeping wickets."
New Zealand will play Pakistan in Dubai and back home in New Zealand in back-to-back
series.
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