KEY POINTS:
New Zealand Cricket are set to make an announcement on the Black Caps coach this week.
As first reported in the Herald on Sunday on June 10, incumbent John Bracewell is almost certain to be offered a two-year extension to his contract.
The selectors also come off contract at the end of the month but there has been no indication that any - Dion Nash, Sir Richard Hadlee and Glenn Turner - is likely to quit.
While the personnel of the panel are likely to stay the same, the profile of it might not. There has been some talk Bracewell, who also sits as convenor of selectors, might have his powers curbed or modified.
While for the most part the panel have steered a predictable path, there have been one or two clangers.
A source told this newspaper the selection of Daryl Tuffey for the World Cup was far from unanimous and it proved misguided, with Tuffey being pushed too soon back into international cricket, a move that ultimately put his rehabilitation back a few steps.
Just recently the panel was forced into a back-down when attempting to replace Hamish Marshall, who turned down a central contract to pursue a career with Gloucestershire in county cricket. Batsman Mathew Sinclair eventually picked up the No 20 contract but was not the panel's first choice.
* Scott Styris' early return to get himself fit in time for the inaugural Twenty20 world champs in South Africa ends a patchy stint at Middlesex.
In first-class cricket, Styris scored just 191 runs in eight innings, not once passing 50.
He is in good company, however. Stephen Fleming has also been struggling in the long form of the game, though his one-day form has been impressive. In seven first-class innings, Fleming has scored just 115 runs, with 32 not out his best effort.
Craig McMillan's one match for the MCC returned him just two runs in two innings but Hamish Marshall, who has turned his back on New Zealand cricket, is having a much more merry time of it, averaging 43.4 in first-class matches this season.
* White Ferns bowler Louise Milliken has returned to New Zealand after injuring her knee during the build up to the Rose Bowl series in Australia.
She has been replaced for the five-match series by Canterbury's Sarah Burke.
Milliken ruptured her anterior cruciate ligament and tore the lateral and medial meniscus and will require surgery.
Milliken has been replaced on the White Ferns' upcoming tour to England by Ros Kember of Auckland.
