Of all the coaches in all the world ...

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

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 long delay after Andy Moles was dumped from the job with obscene haste in October?

It makes you think that New Zealand Cricket put out the feelers to various big-name coaches around the world and couldn't agree terms.

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. Perhaps some weren't interested. Others might not even have been asked.

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.

Greatbatch made a century against England on test debut, and a superb 133 against Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis in their pomp, and he did some wondrous things in one-day cricket, so he has the playing pedigree.

What has intrigued me has been Justin Vaughan's utterances in the wake of the announcement about Greatbatch, though I am often baffled when I listen 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 praise Vettori? Does he not want to hurt feelings?

You usually see this sort of obfuscation when people are trying to cover up something, not when they're announcing good news.

It does set you to wondering. Is there a story behind the story? There often is in New Zealand cricket.

» Veteran Wellington-based journalist Joseph Romanos is one of New Zealand's longest-serving sports scribes.

- © Fairfax NZ News