Cricket: Bruce Edgar reveals reasons for departure

Bruce Edgar has revealed his reasons for leaving New Zealand cricket. Photo / Dean Purcell

Bruce Edgar claims he received minimal support from New Zealand Cricket during his stint as selector and has revealed he was put in the awkward situation of having to sit amongst the wives and girlfriends of Australian players during the Cricket World Cup final.

In an interview with Tony Veitch on Newstalk ZB this afternoon Edgar shared his reasons for the relationship breakdown, revealing New Zealand Cricket offered him a significant paycut and role reduction.

"From a working perspective my days have typically been three days so it's been a part-time role as a selector, and some talent ID involved in that, and that was trimmed to one and a half days a week - obviously with a significant reduction in remuneration as well."

"For me to look at the role and assess the role, I looked at it in terms of how effective I could be based on the amount of days allocated to the role and what that role within the job description was and I just felt I couldn't be effective."

When quizzed on whether he would have stayed in the job if offered the same role and pay, Edgar still confirmed that "If I was acting with my head I'd probably still say no."

"The factors which have gone on before that in terms of just the operational side and the interactions, the support along the way has been pretty minimal."

Edgar was also left feeling a sour taste when given less-than-hospitable ticketing arrangements for the Cricket World Cup contests, confirming the Herald on Sunday report from this morning.

"For the first game I was offered a ticket at the back of Hagley Park, it certainly wasn't near the players or the official areas. I wasn't sure where I was going to be, whether I was going to be on the bank or in the stands somewhere so that kinda set the scene really for the season."

If he "wanted to have access to a reasonable part of the ground" later in the tournament, Edgar was forced to purchase tickets through third parties, while for the final he sat amongst the wives and girlfriends of Australian players, something he described as an "awkward situation to be in".

Despite the unsatisfactory ending to his 18 month stint with New Zealand Cricket, Edgar still reflected fondly on what he had accomplished alongside the playing and coaching squad.

"Things have worked well, I've had a great relationship with Mike Hesson and Brendon [McCullum] and the boys, and also identifying talent underneath that, communicating with players - I think that's been a critical role, guys understanding where they stand in terms of selection and if they miss out being able to support them as well and give them some guidance going forward. All those sorts of things have worked well and we've been able to identifying players and bring them up at different stages and enjoy the successes they've had.

"I've enjoyed from the playing side of seeing the guys play so well, it's been an outstanding journey in that respect, but from tucked in behind the scenes there have been a number of factors which haven't made things easy, and when you weigh that up do you act with the emotion in your heart and your love of the game or do you act with your head and say I've got to consider the other factors along the way and that's what I did in the end."

Edgar also revealed that several players and coaches got in touch with him to share their disappointment at the situation.

"Mike [Hesson] was disappointed from a working relationship perspective but he said it was a call that I made and he respected that - from our side of things he was clearly disappointed but that was something that was out of his hands.

"It was sad to hear the guys you've worked closely with say they're disappointed that you're not going to carry on and be part of it."

"It's been a hard call, but it's one that I've felt that I had to make"