Cricket: Hesson coveted by franchises as big-money IPL returns

Sports Editor at Large·NZ Herald·

8 Apr, 2015 05:00 PM3 mins to read

Hesson's ability to select the best team and establish an attacking template that changed the way one-day cricket was viewed has dramatically increased the value of his stock.

New Zealand cricket may have a fight to keep coach Mike Hesson as Indian Premier League franchises have started to circle.

The eighth season of the Indian Premier League burst into life this morning at Eden Gardens, with 70,000 fans expected to fill the Kolkata stadium, proving that for all its detractors, the tournament is an unstoppable money-go-round.

Eight Black Caps are in India for the T20 showpiece - it would have been nine but for the injury-enforced withdrawal of Jimmy Neesham - and three coaches, but it is those who are not there that will be concerning those who occupy New Zealand Cricket's mahogany row.

The Herald understands overtures have been made to coach Hesson, possibly by more than one franchise, after New Zealand's rapid upturn in fortunes that culminated recently in the country's first appearance in a World Cup final.

Hesson's ability to select the best team and establish an attacking template that changed the way one-day cricket was viewed has dramatically increased the value of his stock.

Hesson signed a contract extension with NZC midway through last year, which takes him through to April 2017, but with salaries twice the size of that he could receive in New Zealand for about a quarter of the work, it would be difficult for the national body to stop him going if he wanted to.

It is thought Hesson's back-of-house style would suit most of the franchises, whose flamboyant owners like either themselves or their marquee players to be front and centre.

This worst-case scenario is a long way from playing out, but it does highlight the bind smaller nations find themselves in when trying to retain coaching talent.

While it is relatively easy to give players the time off to compete in the IPL and Champions League, the lead-in time coaches need to prepare their teams means it is near impossible to be an international and IPL head coach simultaneously.

Already New Zealand have lost bowling coach Shane Bond to the IPL. One of the motivating factors for him was to spend more time with his three children. Even if Mumbai go all the way in the IPL and Champions League, Bond's commitment is closer to three months.

It is hoped Bond's intellectual property will not be lost completely and that he will be available in a consultancy-type role with the country's best fast bowlers, but it goes without saying NZC would have preferred him as a full-time contractor.

His place has been taken by former England international Dimitri Mascarenhas in an interim role for the tour to England.

NZC has tried to mitigate against the time spent away from home with family-first policies and by giving coaches and management time away from tours, but at one stage it was estimated that Hesson - who has a wife, Kate, and two young daughters - had spent more than 300 nights away from home in a year. Few believe that sort of lifestyle is sustainable in the long term, unless you're single.