KEY POINTS:
John Wright has "unfinished business" with New Zealand cricket and that can only be good news for beleaguered fans.
The former left-handed opener, who has more than 5000 test runs, last week turned down a job for Cricket Australia at their Centre of Excellence in Brisbane. From his
farm in North Canterbury, Wright said a desire to stay home after a decade coaching overseas was his primary reason.
Having quit as coach of India in 2005, Wright is ready for another challenge.
The signs are good; new chief executive Justin Vaughan said a fortnight ago NZ Cricket couldn't afford to lose talent like Wright's so it seems a matter of time before something is formalised.
"I'd like to get involved in New Zealand cricket because it's sort of a bit like unfinished business," Wright said. "I played for New Zealand for a long period of time and I'm pretty passionate about cricket in New Zealand.
"Cricket is what I've done for my working life really so I'd like to find a role here at some stage and I wouldn't necessarily rule out working overseas again."
John Bracewell's position as national coach is under review but it's unlikely to change. Wright thought Bracewell had done a "good job" considering the shallow talent pool, and the Herald on Sunday understands Bracewell will likely be offered an extension to his contract, most likely for a two-year period.
The two coached in England - Wright for Kent, Bracewell at Gloucestershire - and have kept in touch.
"We had a chat before they went to the World Cup and we had a good discussion about things. John and I played a lot of cricket together, we've sort of been around together.
"The bottom line is . . . I expect he will be continuing. It's the same anywhere. I mean, in India, if you don't win, as coach, you don't keep your job basically, it's as simple as that. And New Zealanders are pretty tough on the coaching front too."
Wright said it was often the second-tier of players that determined success. A successful team should have players pushing for spots. That has always been New Zealand's bugbear.
"There's not many people in New Zealand and we're up against continually a bigger talent pool and things like that, so it's something that has to be sort of looked after, really.
"We've just got to get our heads around winning."
Wright believed the Black Caps had probably played up to expectation at the World Cup "although I felt they were a little bit disappointing in the games against Sri Lanka and Australia".
Nothing is set in concrete but Wright might have a role alongside Ric Charlesworth driving high-performance, creating that second tier of international-class players. It's the sort of role he was so excited about in Australia.
"The people in the ACB and the whole set up, they're enormously impressive and very professional, a great facility."
But the bottom line was that he wanted to stay home.
