Cricket: IPL connection no bar to right coach

Andy Moles. Photo / Paul Estcourt

Hiring a national coach with an Indian Premier League contract might not be the dealbreaker it once was.

As New Zealand Cricket begin the search for Andy Moles' replacement, the spectre of the Twenty20 league in India hovers over their plans.

Several well-regarded coaches have an involvement with one of the franchises in India. A year ago when the replacement process for John Bracewell was under way, having an IPL contract ruled out candidates.

NZC chief executive Justin Vaughan, while still wary, left the door open to an accommodation. "Without wanting to crystal ball gaze, if the perfect person was available only after the IPL, then we'd have to weigh that up," he said yesterday.

This season's IPL starts in mid-March, cutting through New Zealand's two-test home series against Australia. That is a problem, in Vaughan's mind.

"If we want to have our coach in place this summer I would find it very difficult to imagine how an IPL coach would manage that. With the World Cup in 2011 being the real pinnacle event, and not that far away, I'm loath to leave an appointment too late."

Vaughan said a coach having an IPL contract would put that contender at a disadvantage alongside other good coaches not on the Indian gravy train.

"But you've got to weigh it on balance. If that person is streets ahead of everyone else, then I think we'd have to think very seriously about it."

And that means digging deep in the bank account, which is in good heart after India's visit last summer.

"If we find the right person I'll be moving heaven and earth to try and find a way we can afford that person."

This all presupposes that captain Dan Vettori decides he needs a coach after shouldering the main burden through the United Arab Emirates limited-overs series against Pakistan, starting next Tuesday, and the three-test home series from November 24.

If the team are performing strongly with Vettori as captain-acting coach, and the skipper is happy with the workload, it might run through to the visits by Bangladesh and Australia in February-March.