Cricket: It's official, Trist has quit as coach

JOHANNESBURG - New Zealand Cricket confirmed last night that it had lost the battle to retain the services of national coach David Trist.

Operations manager John Reid said Trist would not be seeking a renewal of his contract when it came up for renewal at the end of August, and would probably step down after the tour to Sri Lanka in July.

Trist had advised NZC of his intentions in a letter at the end of the 2-0 series win over Zimbabwe in September, but Reid said his organisation had done their best to persuade him to stay on until the 2003 World Cup.

"Ideally, we would have liked David to continue through to the World Cup, but we entirely respect his decision not to seek a renewal of his contract. It's likely that his last tour in charge will be to Sri Lanka."

NZC will advertise "in due course" for a replacement for Trist, who was considered a key factor for the World Cup because of his intimate knowledge of conditions in South Africa, where the next tournament is to be played.

Trist, who lives with his wife Christine at Little River on Banks Peninsula, was unavailable for comment last night as the New Zealand side were having their final practice before squaring off against South Africa in the third test at the Wanderers.

But he had suggested for some time that he was unlikely to seek another term, and is apparently keen to pursue his interests in the racing, bloodstock and agricultural industries.

In the meantime, he will be focusing on some major batting problems going into the third test.

If the batsmen, and particular the senior three, have been the major disappointment of the series, then Nathan Astle has become the biggest individual concern. He has struggled not only with his timing and footwork, but also with his confidence and subsequently his judgment.

He was able to contribute only 2 and 18 in the second test after first opting to shoulder arms to wicket-to-wicket specialist Shaun Pollock, and then aiming one of his footless off-drives in the second and falling in the traditional manner behind the wicket.

The New Zealand No 5 has played 41 tests and averages 34.77, but has scored only one 50 in his past 10 innings and is averaging only 16.25 in the present series.



Interestingly, for there are those who feel that the more he bowls the worse he bats, Astle has delivered far more overs than usual of late, churning through 141 in the Zimbabwe and South Africa series alone.

In the two tests against South Africa so far he has bowled more overs than he has scored runs, rolling down 36 and 24 overs at Bloemfontein, and following that up with 36 and two at Port Elizabeth.

At the same time, he has managed to string together scores of 37, 8, 2, and 18 with the bat.

Astle, however, is not alone in needing to make a meaningful contribution at the Wanderers, where New Zealand won the first test of the 1994-95 series under Ken Rutherford.

The entire top order is under the microscope after the second-test capitulation.

Unless they can make amends in the first innings here, New Zealand will be in grave danger of suffering a 3-0 whitewash.

Stephen Fleming and Craig McMillan will want to erase the memory of their dismissals at Port Elizabeth, Craig Spearman desperately needs a score after four disappointments, and Mathew Sinclair, although at least scoring a century, has still shown too much inconsistency at test level.

The only New Zealand batsman who has scored regularly enough is opening batsman Mark Richardson, and even he has been a touch disappointing in that he has been unable to march on to a genuinely impressive total.

If the tourists had someone who could act as an opening batsman, Spearman would probably be dropped straight away, and there appeared a chance last night that they were even considering this, with Parore seemingly being primed to open, and Glen Sulzberger possibly coming into the line-up.

South Africa seem poised to unleash 21-year-old fast bowler Mfuneko Ngam, who reportedly operates in the 150 km/h range, although team officials still insist that if Allan Donald is fit, he will play.

New Zealand: Stephen Fleming (capt), Mark Richardson, Craig Spearman, Mathew Sinclair, Stephen Fleming, Nathan Astle, Craig McMillan, Adam Parore, Brooke Walker, Shayne O'Connor, Kerry Walmsley and Chris Martin (one to be omitted).

South Africa: Shaun Pollock (capt), Gary Kirsten, Boeta Dippenaar, Jacques Kallis, Daryl Cullinan, Mark Boucher, Lance Klusener, Nicky Boje, Makhaya Ntini, Mfuneko Ngam and Allan Donald. 12th man, Andrew Hall.