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Daniel Vettori believes former New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming would make a “wonderful” coach and is best suited to fill the position left vacant by Andy Moles. Vettori also indicated that he was happy to don the role of player-coach for the next few months, including the limited-overs series against Pakistan in the UAE and home Tests that follow, but he would prefer to see someone come into the role.

“Stephen and I keep in regular contact and he’s been quite a big help in going through all this stuff and some other things that have gone on,” Vettori told the Sunday Star-Times. “He has concerns about my workload and he wants to be a sounding board and do anything he can to help.

“He’s definitely got coach written all over him and he could be an extremely successful one; it’s just whether he wants to get back into that life of touring the world and in that regard it it probably is too soon for him. But he would make a wonderful coach.”

Moles resigned as New Zealand coach on Saturday following reports that the senior players were unhappy with a lack of technical and tactical support being provided by him. Moles and Justin Vaughan, the New Zealand Cricket (NZC) chief executive, took part in mediation talks and came to an agreement that Moles would step down, after a review of the team’s performance in Sri Lanka and at the Champions Trophy suggested that changes should be made.

Vaughan though, believed this was “not the right time” to discuss the possibilities that Fleming might take over. For the time being, team manager Dave Currie is expected to take more management responsibility over the support staff in Moles’ absence, while current assistant coach Mark O’Donnell will remain with the team.

However, it’s unlikely that a replacement for Moles will be in place before the end of the year as NZC is unlikely rush the process after the experience with Moles. Vettori though, said he was happy to operate under those conditions as long as he was given help along the way.

“We’ve got good resources within New Zealand and we could tap into those without putting the mantel of head coach on them and putting them under immense pressure. I’m thinking here of someone like John Wright first and foremost. Maybe he could come in and help the team without being head coach.

“It’s difficult trying to do everything, but I have been performing well so far. I only want to do this job for a short period of time and if I can give everything to it for that period, hopefully we can turn around some results.”

Wright – the former New Zealand opener and ex-India coach – is currently the high performance manager for NZC, but has stated in the past that he does not want to return to coaching because of the travel and time spent away from family. Other names doing the rounds include Steve Rixon, who has considerable coaching experience – his latest stint was in the ICL with the Hyderabad Heroes.

Vaughan admitted Vettori had a huge workload. “I’m not worried about Daniel but we are very conscious he is taking a large burden. But he wants to lead this side, he is leading this side. It is a burden, but he wants to shoulder that burden and create a legacy around this team.”

The tour of UAE kicks off on November 3 with three ODIs in Abu Dhabi, followed by two Twenty20 internationals in Dubai. The teams will then fly to New Zealand for the return leg, comprising three Tests, the first of which begins on November 24 in Dunedin.
Source:Cricket News

Image Source:Cricinfo

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