Cricket: Turner faces shut out

Glenn Turner. Photo / File

New Zealand cricket great Glenn Turner's role as a national selector is expected to be under scrutiny as the governing body works towards appointing a new selection panel for the coming year.

Turner faces a potential shut-out when it comes to the selector appointments, unless NZC opt for a four-strong panel. Coach John Wright looks set to get the call-up if new director of cricket, John Buchanan, is heeded in his pitch about "the coach having as much authority as he needs".

Mark Greatbatch is the current convenor and Lance Cairns was appointed late last year, receiving what is believed to have been Wright's backing. Given Wright's influence on the New Zealand Cricket scene at present, Cairns could remain.

Turner is undecided whether he wants to put his name forward for consideration by what is likely to be a New Zealand Cricket appointments panel to decide the selector, manager and support staff roles for the Black Caps. He declined to comment on the matter, other than to say he would give it further thought once a process had been established.

The new appointments panel is expected to include New Zealand Cricket chief executive Justin Vaughan, Buchanan and other appointees deemed suitable by the board. The board will ratify the final decisions including that of the new captain. Wright and Buchanan are expected to make a recommendation on a captain in the next few weeks.

Turner has offered the New Zealand game plenty through the years as national captain, coach and selector (with some of that time spent as convenor). As a player, Turner is the only New Zealander to score more than 100 first class centuries (103) and is seen by many as a pioneer, paving the way for today's professionals.

However, he has had his difficulties with authority and players over the years and has a reputation for independent thought. He had disputes with the New Zealand Cricket Council (as it was then) in the latter part of his playing career when he was contracted to Worcestershire. As a result, Turner never played a test for New Zealand between March 1977 and February 1983. Then there was the well-documented incident in his second stint as coach when he dealt with a walkout by Chris Cairns and Adam Parore from the West Indies tour of 1996.

Dion Nash went on that tour and says while it was a difficult period for Turner and NZC dealing with that group of players, he learnt a lot more about his former coach in the four years he spent selecting with him.

"Back then we misunderstood each other but we've had an opportunity to resolve that. I found him great to work with - honest with no agendas and always open to intelligent debate. However, if you disagree with him, you had better come with a strong argument and tell him why. If you don't, he naturally assumes you agree."

Another veteran from that West Indies tour said Turner's communication skills sometimes let him down but if he'd had a stronger management group consisting of the likes of future managers John Graham or Jeff Crowe there would never have been a problem.

"He always told it as it was; straight up, hard-nosed. Some might not agree with him but he had the courtesy to get to the point and give you no rubbish. If you were a player on the verge, at least you knew what to expect and what to work on. From a coaching point of view, technically he's one of best New Zealand's had, especially one-on-one, but communication could be a struggle when it came to motivating a group."

The 63-year-old Turner will have taken heart from Buchanan's address to the high performance forum two weeks back. The former Australian coach is understood to have spoken of the need to welcome open and frank debate while taking differences on board. That is the sort of philosophy likely to pique Turner's interest after he was muzzled in speaking to the media about selections in the latter part of his term.

Several former New Zealand cricketers who have had close dealings with Turner mostly spoke of a superb cricket knowledge and firm, open dealings when discussing what they needed to do to earn or maintain selection. However, some sources close to NZC mentioned there were concerns at times that his communication skills were too brusque.

One current player defended Turner's approach: "He's not a guy who praises people readily. He doesn't believe you should go out to bat to get the praise of a selector. If you get 150 or take six wickets, you should know you played well. He doesn't want to have to balance that praise by kicking people up the bum if they don't do well.

"If you don't know him, he can be hard to read and understand. However, if he was kept in an advisory role - observing cricket around the country - that would be perfect because it takes plenty of resources to monitor what would be at least 80 domestic players at various times during the season."