New Zealand cricket's latest saviour

SPORTS TALK - BY JOSEPH ROMANOS - THE WELLINGTONIAN

OPINION: After scouring the world in search of the ideal person to coach the Black Caps, New Zealand Cricket has settled on Mark Greatbatch.

It makes you wonder what all the fuss was about.

Three months of speculation, rigorous scrutiny and research has led all the way to Greatbatch, who was already a national selector and who had filled the role of pseudo-coach when the New Zealand team travelled to the Middle East to play Pakistan a couple of months ago.

So why the protracted delay after Andy Moles was dumped from the job with obscene haste last October?

It took so long to name the coach that speculation was rife. John Wright, Darren Lehmann, Mickey Arthur, Steve Rixon ... every week or two a new name surfaced.

As the months passed, New Zealand Cricket, forced to look closer to home, finally turned its gaze on Greatbatch.

I've no problem with "Paddy", as Greatbatch is known in the cricket world. He's done some good things and made some mistakes coaching Central Districts and Warwickshire and will be a better coach for those experiences.

He's enthusiastic, innovative and knows the New Zealand players and the scene here.

Besides, he played one of the greatest innings in test history – his epic 655-minute rearguard action against the Australians at Perth in 1989. Even Allan Border and his Aussie team-mates saluted that gutsy, match-saving innings.

What has intrigued me has been Justin Vaughan's utterances in the wake of the announcement about Greatbatch, though I'm often baffled listening to Vaughan. The New Zealand Cricket boss has been at pains to stress that Black Caps captain Daniel Vettori will still be in charge of the team.

Is there a hidden message here? Have administrators become so afraid of the players, and the increasing power they wield, that they need to bow and scrape in front of them?

Of course Vettori will be in charge. It's his team.

Just like Stephen Fleming was in charge before him. And going back further, Martin Crowe, Geoffrey Howarth, John Reid, Walter Hadlee and Tom Lowry. The captain runs the team.

The coach and other peripheral staff are there to help.

Has anyone ever suggested Ricky Ponting, Steve Waugh or Mark Taylor weren't in charge of the Australian team, or that Sourav Ganguly, Graeme Smith and Nasser Hussein didn't run their respective test teams?

So why does Vaughan get so tongue-tied when asked about lines of authority within the Black Caps? Why does he needlessly over-praise Vettori? You usually see this sort of obfuscation when people are trying to cover up something, not when they're announcing good news.

Is there a story behind the story? There often is in New Zealand cricket.

A SALUTE TO THE FED

A year ago, I felt Roger Federer's stellar tennis career was on the skids.

He'd just lost a magnificent five-set Australian Open final to Rafael Nadal and burst into tears at the prizegiving.

It seemed doubtful then if he would win a 14th Grand Slam title, to match Pete Sampras' record, whether he'd ever win the French Open, or if he would ever be ranked No1 again.

Since then, Federer has won the French, Wimbledon and Australian crowns, and now has 16 Grand Slam titles. He is way ahead at the top of the rankings.

It's doubtful if he ever played better than he did in winning this year's Australian Open. Faced with a stiff challenge against Andy Murray in the final, he played every shot imaginable and used his experience to win the vital points.

Federer has that priceless gift of being able to raise his game when it really matters. That separates the great from the good.

Serena Williams, who won the women's title, is the same. She can look ordinary much of the time, but when points have to be won, she invariably produces the big serve or the winning forehand.

Her play, in finally ending the fairytale comeback of Justine Henin in the final, was outstanding, and she certainly ranks alongside Navratilova, Seles and Graf – the best of the recent women's champions.