The appointment of a supremo for the NZ team still hasn't been made. David Leggat answers some key questions.
How did the issue of who should be the next person in charge of the New Zealand team arise?
Because the last coach, Englishman Andy Moles, was dumped in late October, a year into the job. Reasons given included reservations over his tactical acumen, whether he was able to push the national side forward and players' lack of confidence in his abilities as a coach.
Since then, national captain Dan Vettori has acted as the overseer for the ODI and Twenty20 series against Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates, and the home test series against Pakistan before Christmas.
What is the structure of the New Zealand team's backroom staff?
The players are supported by a team manager, New Zealand Olympic and Commonwealth Games chef de mission Dave Currie; a physiotherapist, Kate Stalker; a fitness and conditioning adviser, Bryan Stronach; bowling coach, former Australian first-class fast bowler Shane Jurgensen; a security adviser on an as-and-when-required basis; Roger Mortimer, who handles individual performance plans; a media manager; a video analyst, Zach Hitchcock, and Mark O'Donnell.
The former Auckland coach was appointed as Moles' assistant but has kept his position and helps to organise the fielding drills and acts as general team factotum.
Both John Wright and Mark Greatbatch, former test lefthanders, have done stints as batting coach.
Why is there even a debate on the top-end structure, given that it is ultimately a New Zealand Cricket board appointment?
Good question. Influential voices, primarily from the playing side of the game - as opposed to the administrative side - are known to favour someone in a directorial, co-ordinating role, orchestrating rather than necessarily with the sleeves rolled up at the nets.
Broadly speaking, the NZC position is that there is not much wrong with the standard head coach job, with some minor modifications.
So why should NZC not simply announce their choice and leave it to the players and their new boss to rub along and work things out as they go? It doesn't work that way. There's no point appointing someone the players won't have a bar of.
Vettori's position is more powerful than any previous skipper. He will have a big say in the person, and job description, decided on. Therefore time is being taken to get the right person.
What's the difference between a head coach and an overall team director?
The head coach is just what it sounds like, the person in charge of coaching the team, and while specialists might be called in, either on a long-term basis or as and when players seek particular help, he has overall control of that aspect.
The team director is seen as a less hands-on role, more co-ordinating the work of the specialists, and handling the planning and routine managerial elements. He would be answerable to NZC but would have a strong say in the work of the specialists, who would answer to him.
Do New Zealand need a head coach anyway?
An important question if you view coaches as the thing with wheels which transports players to and from the ground. For many decades teams got by perfectly well without add-ons. Now, whatever you call them, it seems they are regarded as indispensible. Vettori shoulders huge responsibility right now. That can't last, so yes, someone is needed to lift the load off the country's best player.
Who are the leading candidates for the vacant permanent job of batting coach?
Wright and Greatbatch. Both have done the job on and off in the last year. Wright is NZC's high-performance boss; Greatbatch joined the national selection panel last season and his rise to prominence has been rapid recently.
Anyone else? Perhaps Martin Crowe, who is doing private work with some individual batsmen, including Ross Taylor and Tim McIntosh.
Who heads the field as a team director?
Former New Zealand captain Jeff Crowe tops the list. He has been an International Cricket Council match referee for several years, but did a stint as team manager early in this decade. He was popular and efficient.
A key point is whether Crowe wants a significant change in his cricket lifestyle and to return to a job he has previously done, although it then had a different description.
Is time an issue?
At the time of Moles' departure NZC said the plan was to have the replacement bedded in for the visit of Bangladesh, who start their tour with a Twenty20 international in Hamilton on February 3.
Various assumed deadlines, such as December 31, have come and gone with no puffs of white smoke coming from NZC's Christchurch bunker.
There is a school of thought that if Vettori has to carry on in all his roles - captain, acting head coach, national selector, best bowler, second-best batsman (at least) - for the Bangladesh visit it's no big deal. Australia, arriving at the end of February, could be a different story. Then again, if there's no coach, and New Zealand perform well it will raise another question altogether: if Vettori is bearing up well, the team are content simply working with the specialists, is a generalissimo needed after all?
