KEY POINTS:
A call from old foe Rod Marsh during the World Cup is thought to have prompted John Wright's probable departure to Australia.
Wright, impervious to offers since quitting India in 2005, was reported to be taking a job at Cricket Australia's Brisbane-based centre of excellence. He will also work with Australia A.
Incoming New Zealand chief executive Justin Vaughan said, as with Lou Vincent earlier this week, this country could not afford to lose its best talent overseas.
"Whether it's players or coaches we've got to do our utmost to protect our talent.
"You look at John Wright's record at India and his success is unparalleled."
Though Vaughan is two weeks away from taking office he acted quickly to keep Vincent from South Australia's clutches - but Wright might be a more difficult project.
"I really don't know. Maybe it's gone too far down the track. It's unfortunate timing really," he said of the leadership vacuum at NZC.
In truth, there were probably only two roles a coach of Wright's stature would consider at NZC: Black Caps coach or high-performance director. In the latter case, Ric Charlesworth's contract is thought to expire near the end of the year but it is believed he has the option of a further year. Black Caps' coach John Bracewell's contract ends in July and he wants to continue.
Perhaps the best NZC can hope for is that if Wright is employed in Australia, he has a "get-out" clause in case he is offered the job as New Zealand coach.
NZC was keen to secure Wright's services, and understandably so. He is the best credentialled coach in this country by far, with successful years at Kent before taking on the toughest assignment in world cricket: coach of India.
The facetious suggest Wright owes his reputation to the greatest rearguard partnership in test cricket, when VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid took India, already 1-0 down in the three-test series against Australia, to a position where Harbhajan Singh could bowl them to an astonishing victory on the last day.
India went on to win the series and Wright's ability to mould a normally fractured Indian dressing room into a cohesive, fighting unit was seen as one of the driving forces behind their success.
Tiring of the high-pressure, lonely life, Wright returned home in 2005, a prospect that excited then-chief executive Martin Snedden.
"If John Wright does want to come back to New Zealand, then New Zealand Cricket would be very interested in discussing how he could be used to assist the high performance programme," Snedden told the Herald on Sunday at the time.
NZC has recently advertised for a batting coach, but it is a position in both pay and stature that is several rungs below Wright's station.
A source told this newspaper that Snedden could not tempt Wright with a head coaching position at the academy in Christchurch.
The Herald on Sunday wanted to confirm that with Snedden but he is refusing all cricket comment now he is in charge of Rugby World Cup 2011 Limited. Wright was also unable to be contacted.
It was recently reported that Wright turned down the opportunity to replace Tom Moody at the helm of Sri Lanka. That's perhaps not surprising given that in John Wright's Indian Summers he wrote of the Indian job as "the loneliest I've ever done".
"Popping home for the weekend wasn't an option for me unless I was prepared to spend 30 hours on a plane."
He also wrote of the disillusionment he felt towards NZC following an unsuccessful application to be national coach in 1999.
Of course, Australia has things New Zealand cannot offer - money and a never-ending supply of the best young talent in the world are just two. Marsh is a persuasive character. He did wonders at the English Academy and is held in the highest regard in Australia.
In the end he might have swayed it for Wright.
More's the pity.
