David Leggat: A batting coach for our time?

Mark Greatbatch. Photo / Getty Images

New Zealand Cricket embarked on an international manhunt but in the end found their man right under their noses.

Announcing Mark Greatbatch as New Zealand coach might not necessarily have packed the punch that the naming of, say, a Duncan Fletcher, John Buchanan, Mickey Arthur or Tom Moody might have.

In any of those cases New Zealand Cricket might have felt tempted to go into full Neville Chamberlain mode.

Then again, the British Prime Minister waved a piece of paper proclaiming "peace for our time" after a chat with the German leader in 1938 and we all know how that ended.

NZC could have exclaimed: "We have our man," had they nailed a high-profile, well-credentialled overseas figure.

It took them a while and, considering the plethora of overseas names tossed in the pot at different times, Greatbatch is almost an understated choice by comparison.

He will combine the job of national selector with batting coach and overseeing the coaching operation for the side.

Greatbatch's rise to such a prominent position has been rapid. He joined the selection panel last season, working with captain Dan Vettori and Glenn Turner.

Now he's got plenty of hats to wear. His first order of business is sorting out a porous group of batsmen who were embarrassingly undone more than once by a decent (though scarcely ripsnorting) Pakistan attack before Christmas.

Bangladesh and Australia, the bookends of test cricket, whatever the rankings might say, are around the corner.

Among the talents of the Australian side is identifying opposition batting weaknesses and working them relentlessly. No soft point is left unpoked, so Greatbatch will have his hands full from the start.

In test terms, he could do worse than begin at the beginning, tightening defensive techniques.

The souffle-like rise of Twenty20's biff-and-bang urgency has, for its various positives, inevitably had a detrimental effect on sound defence. Think upon the difference between a flashy 30 or a conscientious 70.

As a batsman in 41 tests and 84 ODIs, much of the big lefthander's cricket was characterised by a bristling assertiveness.

When it was his turn to bat, Greatbatch was immediately out of his seat and on his way to the middle, no nervous fluffing about with gloves or helmet.

It was down to business, and he often passed the departing teammate well before the halfway point from pitch to pavilion.

He also once batted almost 11 hours over 146 to defy an Australian attack including Alderman, Rackeman, Lawson and Hughes at Perth. That takes some doing and much of it, inevitably, was based around resolute defence.

If he can bring to the batting lineup doses of both his enthusiasm and that batting resolve, the 46-year-old will have done well.

Greatbatch is an enthusiastic man and he's a straight talker. He hasn't shied away from hard conversations with players.

Having two of the three selectors in the team's inner sanctum seems one too many, but give it time. At least a decision has been made and now it's time to move forward.